Corn and rice planting is underway in the Natural State but it’s a slow go in Northeast Arkansas. Rains and cold temperatures have stymied farmers’ efforts to get seeds into the ground, Craighead County extension agent Branon Thiesse told Talk Business & Politics. Less than 400 of the estimated 338,000 agriculture acres in the county have been planted, he said.

“We need to see some warm weather to warm the soil. … They (farmers) are getting concerned,” he said.

Corn and rice growers in other parts of the state have made some headway, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). As of March 25, more than 18% of estimated 2018 corn acreage had been planted, about double the five year average for this point in the season, NASS reported. Rice growers seeded 4% of acreage, twice what was completed by this time last year, and four times higher than the five-year average. Arkansas growers will grow about 1.33 million rice acres and 650,000 corn acres, according to NASS.    MORE