MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The absence of positive incentives is influencing Mississippi growers to adjust planting intentions to the crops with the fewest strikes against them: cotton and sorghum.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's prospective plantings report released March 30 predicts Mississippi farmers will plant 15 percent more cotton and 11 percent more sorghum than last year. The only other crop showing any increase in acreage is rice, which is expected to increase about 2 percent. The biggest loss will be for soybeans, down 12 percent from 1.7 million acres to 1.5 million.

Erick Larson, grain crops agronomist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service, said corn planting is underway, particularly in the Delta. If rains do not subside soon, growers may switch some fields intended for corn to an alternative. The USDA prediction is for Mississippi corn acreage to be down 2 percent around 400,000 acres.

"Grain sorghum acreage has been steadily increasing in recent years. Sorghum's appeal as a rotation crop is increasing this year because it requires substantially less nitrogen fertilizer than corn, which has the highest nitrogen needs of all the row crops," Larson said. "Sorghum is also more drought tolerant than corn and hardy on less productive soils."

Extension cotton specialist Will McCarty said if soybean prices hold and weather allows, Mississippi's total acreage will be around 1.5 million acres for the first time since 1976.

"Nothing has been able to attract growers away from cotton. Growers will fertilize cotton, regardless of the cost," McCarty said. "Fertilizer prices might impact corn acres, especially in the midwestern states, and therefore drive more people to soybeans, depressing soybean prices further.

"Low prices of all commodities are causing farmers to look at planting more cotton and utilizing risk management alternatives (insurance) to reduce their risks," McCarty said. "The price outlook for cotton is dismal too, but farmers hope things will turn around and yields will be good enough to compensate."

McCarty said the availability of an insurance program can help farmers lock in a yield and a price to protect them from a major loss. The insurance is based on a percentage of their proven yield (the farmer's or the county's) at a specified price.

"The risk management floor provides farmers protection against a catastrophic loss and can help growers recoup production costs," McCarty said.