MISSISSIPPI STATE -- National crop yields are expected to be down from last year, but Mississippi row crop-farmers are looking for increases in two major crops.

According to the Sept. 12 U.S. Department of Agriculture crop production report, Mississippi farmers are expected to produce 46.9 million bushels of soybeans, up 27 percent from last year, and 65.6 million bushels of corn, up 31 percent from 2001. Cotton is projected to yield 1.85 million bales, down 23 percent from last year's production.

"Nationally, all the major row crops are down, but in Mississippi, it is a little bit different in that we had a big decline in cotton acres and a big increase in soybeans and corn," said Charlie Forrest, agricultural economist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service.

Forrest said the drought impacted production nationwide, reducing yields in each of the major row crops. According to the USDA report, soybeans are down 8 percent from last year, cotton down 11 percent, rice down 3 percent and corn is down 7 percent.

"With the decline in U.S. production, we've seen some positive price response already," Forrest said. "It does give us hope for better prices as compared to last year, especially with soybeans and corn. It looks like we're moving in the right direction."

Forrest said Mississippi cotton is expected to yield 759 pounds an acre, 40 pounds more per acre than it did in 2001. Despite this increase in yield, economists expect statewide cotton production to drop because acreage is down quite a bit from last year.

"We took 430,000 acres out of cotton and put 300,000 more acres in soybeans and the rest in corn," Forrest said.

For the other major row crops, soybeans are expected to maintain the 33 bushel per acre average of last year, rice is expected to drop 100 pounds per acre from the 6,500 pounds per acre harvested in 2001, and corn is expected to drop five bushels to 125 bushels an acre in 2002.

"It's not going to be a bad year in Mississippi in terms of yields," Forrest said. "Nationally, supplies are headed in the right direction to improve prices for several commodities."

Forrest said MSU's Department of Agricultural Economics has done a preliminary projection that estimates Mississippi crop values will be about 10 percent higher than they were last year. Last year was a poor year because of low prices, but this year should have a little better overall value of production for major row crops, he said.