Rice was the only other row crop expected to increase acreage in 1997, jumping 19 percent to 250,000 acres. Mississippi soybean growers are expected to plant 2 million acres, an 11 percent increase from last year. What we are seeing is a short-term response to the Freedom to Farm act. I hope the long-term response is continuing the practice of crop rotation. Dr. Tom Jones, extension agricultural economist at MSU, said three other factors contributed to the forecast for increased soybean plantings.
Soybeans are about a dollar ahead of last year's cash prices.
The report forecast Mississippi's 1997 corn crop at 550,000 acres, down 13 percent, but still higher than 1995's 300,000 acres. Higher production costs are resulting in another expected decrease in Mississippi's cotton crop. The report predicts 1.1 million acres in Mississippi, which is 360,000 acres down from 1995. With the Mississippi River and bean prices both high, the forecast for cotton acreage is down. McCarty said about 70,000 to 100,000 cotton acres have been underwater near the river.