RICE AT RECORD LEVEL OF ACRES

This year is the biggest yet for rice, according to the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service, while fewer acres are planted in corn and wheat. Soybean and cotton acreages are holding steady.

An estimated 210,000 acres, a record high, have been in planted in rice, 14 percent more than the 1999 totals and about 25 percent more than a year ago.

The bulk of the rice is raised in Butler and Stoddard counties, which have about 140,000 acres of rice a year. Rice is also raised in Dunklin, Pemiscot, Ripley and New Madrid counties.

Rice has made big advances in Missouri over the past quarter-century.

It wasn't until 1974 that rice acreage started increasing when rice acreage allotments were eliminated. Until then, rice acreage in Missouri was under 5,000 acres.

In 1988, the Louis Dreyfus Corp. opened a rice mill at New Madrid, Mo. And, over the past decade, Riceland Rice had doubled its grain drying and storage facility in Poplar Bluff, Mo. The facility dries, stores and markets about 2 million bushels of rice. Riceland also has a rice mill in Jonesboro, Ark., about 80 miles south of Poplar Bluff.

Corn plantings down

Meanwhile, Missouri corn plantings this year are down from a year ago, according to the statistics service.

This is due largely to frequent rains during the final 10 days of June, delaying plantings, particularly in the northern counties and in some low spots in Southeast Missouri.

"Everyone is about finished planting," said Terry Birk of the USDA Farm Service Agency at Jackson, Mo. "The only exception is extremely low areas. But we're probably 97 percent planted."

Southeast Missouri counties are major producers of corn, with four counties among the top four counties in the state, headed by Stoddard County, which usually plants more than 100,000 acres of corn.

Wheat harvest good

The winter wheat harvest, which is about 85 percent complete, was down about 20 percent this year. Farmers are expected to harvest about 760,000 acres, compared to the more than 875,000 acres planted last fall.

Limited rainfall in the past week to 10 days has allowed farmers to make rapid progress in planting crops and harvesting wheat.

The wheat harvest is 100 percent complete in Cape Girardeau County, said Birk.

Surprisingly, the harvest here turned out good.

"Early on, we thought the harvest would be way down," said Birk. "But most of it has turned out above average."

The statistical service reported last week that the Missouri corn crop was about 35 percent "silked," about four days ahead of normal. Corn condition was reported at about 62 percent good throughout the state, but 90 percent-plus good in Southeast Missouri area, especially in areas with irrigation.

Dr. Joe Henggeler, UM-Delta Center irrigation specialist, said the increase in yields from irrigation averages about 40 bushels for corn, 11 bushels for soybeans and a half-bale of cotton per acre.

Planting of single-crop soybeans is more than 95 percent complete statewide, and double-crop beans are about 70 percent complete. About 98 percent of all soybeans are planted in Southeast Missouri, including the Bootheel.

Soybean plantings are expected to be about the same as a year ago in Missouri, with more than 5 million acres. Some farmers in the northern portion of the state never got their beans in the ground because of rain.

Winter wheat harvesting ranges from almost complete in the Bootheel, to 85 percent complete in the northern areas. Harvested acres this year are about 20 precedent down form last year.

The sorghum crop in Missouri is about 97 percent planted, about three weeks behind last year's early planting.

Sorghum, at about 250,000 acres, is down 14 percent from last year, continuing a downward trend of recent years. This is the lowest Missouri sorghum acreage since 1953.

Some cotton stands thin

Missouri cotton is estimated at about 400,000 acres, unchanged from a year ago.

The majority of Missouri cotton is raised in Dunklin, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Stoddard and Scott counties. Less than 2,000 acres in the remainder of the state are planted in cotton. Dunklin is the big cotton county, with more than 150,000 acres a year. New Madrid County counts about 100,000 acres a year.

Some cotton stands appear thin in the Bootheel this year, but Bobby Phipps, state extension cotton specialist at the Delta Center in Portageville, Mo., says replanting can sometimes be less profitable than just letting a field go.

"With cotton, it's very difficult to get a good stand," said Phipps. "There are more seedling diseases in cotton than in most crops, and sometimes cotton seedlings have a hard time pushing through the soil's crust."

But often a thin stand will recover and yields may be better than late-planted cotton, he said.

Phipps will discuss cotton plantings during a Delta Center Field Day Aug. 31.

The Delta Center will also host a weed tour July 19. The tour will give growers an opportunity to see weed control options. The tour was moved to July so that more farmers could attend, said Dr. Andy Kendig, UM-Delta Center weed specialist.