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Arkansas farmer says Mother Nature has slowed planting progress

Arkansas farmer Robert Stobaugh says his planting season got off to one of the best starts in recent memory.

But, he tells Brownfield, things changed about two weeks ago when temperatures dropped.  “The ground conditions were just near perfect,” he says.  “Soil temperature was good, and the soil moisture content was good,” he says.  “We were having a pretty easy time getting those crops planted about two weeks ago.  Right after that cold snap it got wet and it’s been wet ever since.”

Stobaugh says the 2021 is already shaping up to be much different than previous years, especially as he looks at commodity prices.  “We typically have a decision-making process that has to do with rotation as much as pricing,” he says. “This year that has not been an issue to even consider because all of the crops we’re growing have pretty good pricing opportunities and we’ve been taking advantage of that.”

Stobaugh raises corn, soybeans, rice, and grain sorghum just northwest of Little Rock.