Weather

A good rain came through on Monday. I have heard amounts of around 0.9 inches. It all soaked up as we are still trying to get out of the drought. Looking at the drought monitor, we moved up a little bit and more of the county is in a D1 status. This surprised me, but just shows how dry we were. Looks like Thanksgiving may be wet as rain chances are on the rise later next week. Temperatures go back down at the end of next week also, with more freeze chances.

Arkansas and Mississippi River

2025 Row Crop Enterprise Budgets

The 2025 crop enterprise budgets for Arkansas farmers are now available online and this year feature enhanced access and customization, said author Breana Watkins, an economist and instructor for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

Crop budgets are a tool to allow farmers to plan the best possible financial outcomes for the next growing season. Watkins has worked to make the program more user-accessible and adaptable.

“Any item can be custom-tailored to fit a wide array of on-farm scenarios,” she said. The Division of Agriculture’s information technology staff “has also developed a crop budget program that will make it easier for users to edit and use the budgets from a cellular device.”

Another feature is a lease budget that will provide the user an easier or quicker version of the full budget program.

“It contains a 20 percent crop share in the budget and allows users to change crop protection products and amounts to easily compare their operating expenses with revenue potential,” Watkins said.

Uphill battle

The budgets reflect the uphill battle farmers faced in 2024 and may continue to face in 2025, due to low commodity prices and challenging input costs.

“There isn’t a single budget which produces a positive net return when taking in to account all costs associated with production,” Watkins said. “In previous years negative net returns were only realized on budgets where land rent was taken into account.”

“My phone started ringing in October with grower requests for the 2025 budgets,” said Scott Stiles, extension economics program associate for the Division of Agriculture. “That's a bit earlier than usual. Harvest wrapped up quickly for some this year. As soon as harvest was done, the focus on finances began.”

Stiles said interest costs are expected to come down some in 2025, as are crop insurance premiums.

“Compared to this time last year, corn prices are down 15 percent, soybeans down 21 percent, rice down 8 percent and cotton down 9 percent,” he said. “As of Friday, Nov. 15, September 2025 corn futures settled at $4.36, November 2025 soybeans $10.20, September 2025 rice $6.40 per bushel, and December 2025 cotton was at 70.56 per pound.  

“Using today's prices for fall 2025 futures, I plugged those into the new university budgets,” he said, adding “here's the interesting thing, if I plugged in a price of $10.20 for soybeans and a yield of 65 bushels — if I own my land, I can cover my variable cost or input costs and my fixed costs.”

But there’s the rub.

“The problem facing most operations today — they don't own all their land,” Stiles said. “Given where commodity prices are today, the outlook is really grim, particularly for operations with a high percentage of rented acres. 

“This applies to the majority of row crop farms in Arkansas, especially ones managed by the younger farmers,” Stiles said.

Because of weather and low commodity prices in 2023 and 2024, these farmers lack sufficient working capital reserves.

“If anything, cash reserves are being depleted to fill holes in repaying operating expenses and term debt,” he said. “Making it through a third year of challenging commodity prices will require careful cost management and attention to marketing opportunities.”

Pennywise and pound foolish

Watkins echoed Stiles’ sentiments, that farmers need to careful about decisions that might be pennywise but end up pound foolish.

“It is easy for producers to want to ease off and try to utilize two herbicide applications instead of three; reduce urea rates from 330 pounds to maybe 260 pounds, etc., but before they do, they need to think about the consequences and the cost/benefit analysis of the treatment.”

“For instance, reducing that urea may save them 70 pounds of urea per acre and a $10 per acre of custom aerial application cost,” she said. “With urea price at $515 per ton, you’re looking at a near $30 reduction per acre in your costs. Which alone, sounds great! We love saving money. However, if a farmer expects a minimal yield reduction of 5 percent — from 215 bushels per acre to 204 bushels per acre for corn due to reduction in urea applied.

“At a cash price of $4.45 per bushel, your potential loss would be almost $50,” she said. “So, in reality, a producer would potentially lose more due to a 5 percent yield reduction than reducing their urea rates by more than 20 percent.

“The budgets are the tool to use to help make these kinds of decisions. Low commodity prices coupled with rising input costs will make a lot of producers contemplate these types of managerial decisions,” Watkins said. “The budget tools available can help.”

Row Crop Production Meetings

The 2025 River Valley Row Crop Production Meeting dates have been set.

January 9, 2025 - River Valley Soybean and Corn Production Meeting - Conway County Fairgrounds - 9:00 AM

March 4, 2025 - River Valley Rice Meeting - Place to be determined

Wheat

We got more wheat in the ground before the rain on Monday. I walked around some fields on Thursday and the ground was starting to firm up. The winds have really helped dry things out. If you are going to plant more you need to get it in before the end of next week. After that things could get iffy.

Most of the wheat that was planted earlier is up to two or three leaves and looks good. I am concerned with some of the weeds I have seen out there. We definitely need to look at wild garlic control this year.

Pesticide Applicator Trainings

I have worked with Conway and Perry County to come up with a spring Pesticide Applicator Training Schedule.

Cost for the certification training is $20 that is payable that night. It is a good idea to call and register for the class or if you have any questions, feel free to call and ask. Office numbers are located below. Anyone can go to any of these trainings. You don't have to just go in your county.

Faulkner County call and talk to Mindy Beard at the office at 501-329-8344 or email at rbeard@uada.edu

Perry County - 501-889-2661

Conway County - 501-977-2146

You can also get certified online. It also costs $20. The link to the online training is listed below.

Brucellosis Vaccination Update

Faulkner County producers showed up to take advantage of free brucellosis vaccinations this fall. Mr. Eber McClure from Livestock and Poultry worked 3 days in Faulkner County. Vaccinations were done on 17 farms with 205 total head vaccinated.

I am super excited about that number of vaccinations. That is the largest schedule I remember ever doing in Faulkner County. I hope this is a sign that producers are looking at retaining heifers to grow their herd.

If you missed this schedule, you can still have Livestock and Poultry come out and vaccinate for you. Just let me know if you need some done and I will get you in contact with Eber.

Pasture to Plate Update

We had our first informational meeting for our Faulkner County Pasture to Plate meeting on Tuesday November 19. We had around 30 people show up to ask questions about the project. I want to thank Perry County Extension Agent Blake Erbach for coming over and giving a presentation on how to pick a quality steer for this project. We will have sign ups in January.

Pasture to Plate is a youth project where a youth raises a steer to a processing weight. There are four parts to the project:

1. Average Daily Gain
2. Recordbook
3. Fair Show
4. Carcass Score

At the end of the year we will give out awards for each individual category and an overall winner. We are excited to have this project in Faulkner County this year to teach our youth about raising quality beef!

BEEF! IT’S WHAT’S FOR THANKSGIVING!

Mark Z. Johnson, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Cattle Breeding Specialist

Thanksgiving is a time when American families come together to celebrate a holiday that connects each and every one of us. While Thanksgiving is observed in varied ways in different nations, in American the holiday is truly rooted in agriculture. We may bring our own flavors and traditions to the table but Thanksgiving is a time for all of us to celebrate our nation’s harvest and ability to efficiently produce food, to express gratitude for our blessings, and look ahead to the future. 

I encourage you to make plans to enjoy beef this year at Thanksgiving. Why? Because compared to turkey, or among all the protein sources you may be considering for Thanksgiving dinner, beef holds the advantage. With regard to flavor, beef is generally more interlaced with marbling, the taste fat that translates to a more flavorful and satisfying eating experience. Beef can be aged to further intensify flavor, not an option with poultry products. Beef offers more variety of cuts, all of which result in the same satisfying eating experience. Beef can be served in a variety of “degree of doneness” options relative to what is most satisfying to your palate. Likewise, beef offers more options in the amount of time spent in preparation to better fit your schedule. Turkey requires long-term baking/frying preparation resulting in the option of white meat or dark meat. Consuming beef on Thanksgiving Day has the further advantage of improving the supply and demand equation thereby improving the profit potential of beef production. Because of the variety of advantages offered by beef, please give consideration to the following when planning.

1. How much time do you have to spend cooking?

If your answer is not much, consider grilling or pan frying. Middle meats from the beef carcass like ribeye, strip loin, filet and sirloin steaks are very tender and can be cooked quickly at high temperatures on the grill or stove top to seal in the tenderness, juiciness and flavor. If you intend to grill or pan fry steaks remember to give them adequate time to thaw and reach room temperature before cooking. Burgers made from ground beef are also great when grilled or pan fried. Chicken fried steak using tenderized round steaks can be pan fried.

If you have more time to spend in preparation, smoking or oven roasting can result in the same tender, succulent beef flavor. Roasts from the chuck or round can be seasoned and slow cooked to bring out “melt in your mouth” flavor. Beef brisket is ideal for smoking and slow cooking. An intact rib roast can also work great for smoking or slow cooking.

2. What is your budget?

Typically steaks or middle meats will be the more expensive cuts to purchase. The cuts that require more cooking time (because they contain more connective tissue) can be purchased at a lower price per pound. Ground beef is also less expensive. Since beef is the preferred protein among most consumers, it will typically cost more per pound in comparison; nevertheless, the variety of options from a beef carcass leads to choices to fit any budget. 

More information about cooking methods, recipes and beef cuts can be found at www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com. Regardless of the cut of beef you enjoy this Thanksgiving you will be eating a nutrient dense, delicious source of protein, B vitamins, iron and zinc that is a healthy diet choice.

This year on Thanksgiving, I want to say thanks to America’s farmers, ranchers and everyone in production agriculture that make it possible. Whatever we eat on Thanksgiving Day, it is the ingenuity, perseverance, efficiency, work ethic and “can do” attitude of America’s cattle men and women, and ag producers that permit us to enjoy the highest quality beef produced in the world and spend a relatively small percentage of our income on food. 

Happy Thanksgiving, thanks for reading and remember “BEEF! IT’S WHAT’S FOR THANKSGIVING!” 

South Central Arkansas Small Ruminant Workshop

The Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service and Arkansas Goat Producers Association are organizing the South Central Small Ruminant Workshop on December 13th, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm, at the Grant County Fairgrounds in Sheridan, AR. More information about registration and the program will be coming soon. Save the date!

Livestock Market Report

The weekly livestock market report is available on the Arkansas Department of Agriculture website.

Sign up for Text Alerts

You can now sign up for text alerts from me throughout the year. I have two areas you can sign up for which includes Faulkner Livestock or Faulkner Ag (Row Crop Updates). To sign up you can follow one of these links or use the QR Codes below.

Pesticide Applicator Trainings - Faulkner County Extension Office

December 6 - 2:00 PM