The lower Mississippi River Delta region of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, along with adjacent production regions in those states, comprise one of the largest and most diverse agricultural production areas in the United States and is an area advantageous for commercial crop production. Its topography is well suited for large-scale mechanized agriculture consisting of, but not limited to corn, rice, and soybeans. These commodities represent the major agricultural row crops produced in the region, along with sizeable crop acreage devoted to the production of cotton, sorghum, and wheat as well. There are extensive surface water resources with more than 99,000 acres of perennial streams and lakes along with Oxbow lakes, created from past streams and river meanderings, are prevalent throughout the region. These lakes serve as water resources utilized for purposes of irrigation and recreation as well as flood control.

Commercial farming operations across the region share many similar characteristics of production and face common challenges. Although some differences exist across the region, machinery implements and production cost structures are relatively similar for major crops produced by states in the region. In addition, farming operations across the region also face similar current challenges related to the long term economic viability of row crop agricultural production. Some of these challenges or issues include: (1) adopting new production technologies to reduce per unit production costs, (2) determining optimal enterprise mix and farm size as production costs and commodity market opportunities change over time, (3) assessing and anticipating the impacts of rising fuel and fertilizer prices on farm profitability, and (4) understanding the changes in the recently passed farm bill and how those changes will affect on-farm management and crop production decision making.

Much of the research and extension activities of faculty within SERA-35 over the past few years have focused primarily on two farm management areas: commodity production cost estimation and agricultural commodity policy analysis. One of the primary objectives of this group has been to develop, estimate and publish annual production cost estimates of major agricultural enterprises in the region. This work requires major effort related to data collection of major production practices and input prices, computer model development and estimation of variable and fixed commodity production costs under a range of production technologies and practices. Recent commodity production cost publications produced by the three states, along with related farm planning and crop production economic analyses, are listed in the reference section of this proposal. Over the past few years, faculty members from the three states have spent a considerable amount of time educating agricultural producers regarding program decision options under the farm bill. This activity has included numerous presentations, publications, and other outreach efforts. A listing of each state’s 2018 farm bill information web site is listed in the reference section at the end of this proposal.

In addition to the farm management area of the group’s extension and research activities, conservation program and natural resource management topics have also been introduced to stakeholder groups in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. These policy-oriented economic reports cover a range of topics such as: cover crop adoption and initiatives, surface water irrigation use efficiency, and forest land management. Faculty members have also provided applied work consisting of conservation policy adoption in whole farm cost and return modeling as well as economic impact statement of sector contribution.

Given these emerging areas of focus for SERA 35, communication efforts and outreach have also been discussed. As policy programs centering on commodity program support become more complex, there is a critical need to disseminate this information to stakeholder groups. Traditional print media, now coupled with internet blog posts, and webinars provide the foundation for effectively disseminating this information in a timely manner.