FAYETTEVILLE — As Arkansas producers near 100 percent completion of their harvest, the estimated losses from this year’s rain remains at $309.3 million, according to a report issued by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture economists.

The figure, released on Thursday, represents a 9.6 percent loss from estimated total gross receipts for corn, cotton, cottonseed, grass hay, rice, sorghum and soybeans. On a per-acre basis, the average loss for the crops is $43. The $309.3 million figure was part of a Nov. 13 estimate.

A final estimate for the 2009 crop year will be issued in January.

“The latest report reflects harvesting progress. As of Dec. 7, rice, corn and sorghum harvest has been completed, while cotton and soybeans were 98 percent harvested,” said Eric Wailes, professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness for the U of A Division of Agriculture.

“Every week, more and more soybean producers are parking their combines for the season,” Jeremy Ross, extension soybean agronomist for the division, said last Monday. Of the small percentage remaining, “there are probably still a few good fields of soybeans, but all of the harvestable soybean fields are probably out.”

Tom Barber, extension cotton agronomist for the division, said last Monday that he saw “a couple of fieldsthat were not harvested because the lower ends were still under water.

“Hopefully they will be able to harvest these fields before Christmas, but it will depend on weather,” he said. “These fields won’t be the best yielding, but cotton has a pretty good ability to hang on in the field as long as there are no flooding rains.”

The crop loss estimate report was created by Wailes, Wayne Miller, professor of agricultural economics, Scott Stiles, instructor of agricultural economics; Brad Watkins, associate professor of agricultural economics; and Jeffrey Hignight, a program associate at the Rice Research and Extension Center in Stuttgart.

The report is available online at http:// division.uaex.edu/.

News, Pages 20 on 12/16/2009