Enterprise budgets available to help Arkansas farmers plan for 2023

Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture

JONESBORO, ARKANSAS

   The 2023 enterprise budgets, an important tool to help farmers plan their next crop season mix, contain changes that reflect some of the biggest economic impactors from the current year, said economist and author Breana Watkins.

   The enterprise budgets, compiled annually for corn, cotton, grain sorghum, peanuts, rice, soybeans and wheat, are available online.

   “This year we’ve seen a lot of correction in input supply issues which has allowed the volatility in prices to wane from the 2022 budgets,” she said. “A slight correction in the costs of fertilizer and chemicals has been offset by an increase in diesel fuel costs as well as a decrease in local cash bids on grain.

   “We are still holding on to profitable levels but the situation with the Mississippi River is one that can greatly impact this,” Watkins, an extension economist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said. “Even flooding fields for waterfowl this winter could create major delays and issues with navigating the river for the upcoming planting season.”

   She said that “without a wet winter to replenish the water tables, this spring could be a bit tricky when it comes to buying needed fertilizers and for selling any grain held in bins.”

   In 2022, Watkins had to make some significant adjustments to the enterprise budgets because of a list of global issues that included how drought-related power-rationing has hindered glyphosate manufacturing in China, Hurricane Ida stalling fertilizer shipping in Louisiana, COVID and Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. She’s ready to make similar changes in the coming year if the market dictates.

   “We are monitoring the situation in Florida with the damage to Mosaic, which supplies over half of the phosphate utilized in the U.S, caused by Hurricane Ian,” Watkins said. “If we see a large swing in the prices producers will receive on inputs, then yes, I will update the budgets to reflect those changes.

   “We’re developing a budget web application that will make updating them much smoother and easier so we can disperse the information in a timelier fashion,” she said.

   Farmers with questions about the enterprise budgets can contact Watkins directly at bjwatkins@uada.edu or (870) 919-4569. ∆

 Sample spreadsheets from the collection of 2023 enterprise budgets for Arkansas. 

 U of A System Division of Agriculture images