COLUMBIA, Mo. — Arkansas agriculture will receive $286.2 million in assistance from the American Relief Act, with Mississippi County being the top recipient, according to an analysis by the Rural & Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center.
The American Relief Act was the continuing resolution passed in December to keep the federal government open through March 14. It also extended the 2018 Farm Bill through September 2025. In total, it provides $10 billion in economic assistance to crop farmers growing eight commodities: barley, corn, cotton, oats, peanuts, rice, sorghum, soybeans and wheat.
Six million of the state’s acres were determined to be eligible for economic assistance. Soybeans comprised more than half of that acreage — 51 percent. Rice covered 26 percent, cotton, 11 percent and corn 10 percent. The remaining acreage was in oats, peanuts, grain sorghum and winter wheat.
The economic loss from each crop is determined as the difference between the 2024 expected cost of production per acre published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service and the 2024 expected gross return per acre.
Hunter Biram, extension economist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said the top five crops receiving assistance in Arkansas are rice, soybeans, cotton, corn, and peanuts accounting for 37 percent, 31 percent, 20 percent, 9 percent, and 1 percent, respectively, of the $286.2 million in total assistance. Wheat, sorghum, and oats, account for 2 percent of total assistance.
The dollar total for rice was approximately $106.6 million; $89.8 million for soybeans, $56.3 million for cotton, $25.8 million for corn, $3.32 million for peanuts, $3.29 million for wheat, $650,200 for sorghum and $394,900 for oats.
