Crop Report

This summer has not just felt hot and dry; close to half the state is in moderate to severe drought, and temperatures have been mostly in the 90s through all of August.
Mike Brown is the state climatologist and Mississippi State University professor of meteorology. He said much of the northern two-thirds of the state has been fluctuating between drought and being OK.

The growing season is wrapping up on Mississippi’s 2024 rice crop, and experts anticipate a slightly higher yield but depressed prices.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that rice harvest began the first week of August. As of Aug. 11, the crop was rated 15% in excellent condition and 82% in either fair or good condition.

Harvest will begin as soon as early August for soybeans, Mississippi’s largest row crop that is overall in good shape heading into the last weeks of its growing season.
Prices, however, are poor, with supply and demand working to push prices even lower.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Lower feed prices are providing some relief to Mississippi’s catfish producers, but many are still facing more than their share of obstacles just to break even.

Among these are middling demand, high operating costs and renovation.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Yield quality for Mississippi’s corn crop this year will largely hinge on which fields were irrigated and which ones were dry land.

“Corn crop condition varies considerably depending on whether it is grown in fields with supplemental irrigation or not,” said Erick Larson, grain crops specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. “Mississippi corn dependent on rain has gone since early June without much appreciable rainfall, so the crop outlook has diminished considerably in that time.”

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Despite encouraging milk prices, margins still project to be tight for Mississippi dairy farmers in 2024.

The latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasted this year’s average all-milk price at $21.60 per hundredweight nationally. Josh Maples, an agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said this is an improvement from last year, but still below 2022 levels, when prices hovered around $25 per hundredweight.

Wheat harvest was complete across most of the state by late June, wrapping up a crop that was quite small compared to recent years and in fairly average condition.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated wheat harvest was 94% complete by June 23, well ahead of the 5-year average for harvest. Mississippi growers planted just 70,000 acres in 2023, and the crop has averaged 96,000 acres since 2021.

Cotton planting has all but drawn to a close in Mississippi for the year, with the state seeing an increase to an expected 500,000 acres in 2024. The U.S. Department of Agriculture made that acreage estimate and said the crop was 94% planted by June 9, 2024. Of that acreage, 80% was either in good or excellent condition, with 19% in fair and just 1% in poor condition.

Mississippi’s 2 million-plus acre soybean crop is mostly planted and looks to be in good shape early on, with the only lingering acres yet to be planted.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that the crop was 86% planted as of May 19, 2024, and 13% in excellent condition and 62% in good condition. The crop is typically close to three-fourths planted by this time of the year.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi’s rice crop is poised to be bigger and healthier than it has been in four years -- the result of increased planting to meet demand and favorable weather conditions during its emergence.

Extreme drought from July onward is expected to significantly reduce the state’s winter wheat crop that is typically small compared to the primary summer crops, but recent rain may help what was planted.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that, as of Nov. 26, 82% of the state’s wheat had been planted, 71% emerged, and only 50% was in good or excellent condition.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Michael May expects to see tree growth impacted for at least the next three years on his Chunky, Miss., Christmas tree farm after this year’s severe to exceptional drought conditions that spanned most of the state.

A late freeze, high summertime temperatures and a devastating drought mean a poor pecan crop for Mississippi in 2023.
Eric Stafne, fruit and nut specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said weather stacked the odds against a good crop this year.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Most of Mississippi’s sweet potatoes are grown far northeast of the state’s worst drought conditions, but that did not keep excessive heat and dryness from factoring in this year’s crop.

Lorin Harvey, sweet potato specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said dry weather affected production more than most growers anticipated. Because of the drought, irrigated acres performed better than potatoes on dryland.

Mississippi hay growers harvested at least 28 percent less hay this year than usual because of the drought that reached extreme levels in parts of the state. Brett Rushing, Mississippi State University Extension forage agronomist, said hay producers in the state typically get three cuttings a year, and often four if they manage well and the weather cooperates.

High temperatures and drought since early July left some cotton acreage not worth harvesting, while others with irrigation may still make an excellent crop in Mississippi.

“Statewide, cotton yields are highly variable depending on where you’re standing,” said Brian Pieralisi, cotton specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- As long as feeding catfish stays pricey, anticipate paying more for fillets at the grocery.

“High grain prices in recent years have pushed catfish feed prices to $495 to $525 per ton, depending on protein level,” said Jimmy Avery, Mississippi State University Extension Service aquaculture professor at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville. Five-year averages for 32% protein feed hovered in the $375-to-$420-per-ton range between 2017 and 2021.

Mississippi’s 2.3 million acre soybean crop is looking strong late in its growing season, thanks to somewhat earlier planting dates and almost ideal conditions through the end of July. 

Mississippi’s cotton crop was in the ground by the second week of June, although fewer acres were planted this year because of low prices and high production costs.
Brian Pieralisi, cotton specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said cotton planting was essentially complete by mid-June. Any unplanted fields intended for cotton were too wet to plant and will likely be switched to soybeans instead.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Anytime conditions allow soybean growers in Mississippi to begin planting in April, they have started on the right foot.

On the week ending June 4, 93% of the state’s crop was in the ground, and 87% was reported emerged; both percentages are just ahead of state five-year averages.