Arkansas remained the third-largest cotton producer in the United States in 2025 despite a decrease in planted acres, according to a May 19 report from the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. Farmers are expected to plant even fewer acres this year, which could result in the lowest cotton acreage for the state since 2017.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released several reports related to cotton production and ginning. Scott Stiles, extension economics program associate for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, said, “The 2025 Arkansas state average yield came in at 1,239 pounds per acre, the fourth highest yield on record for Arkansas and slightly below the five-year average of 1,250 pounds per acre.” He noted that this figure was down by more than one hundred pounds from last year’s record yield.
NASS estimates show that southeastern counties and Poinsett County averaged above 1,300 pounds per acre while central counties had yields between 1,120 and 1,220 pounds. The March Prospective Plantings Report projected that Arkansas producers would plant about 470,000 acres of cotton in 2026—a ten percent decrease from last year’s estimate. Stiles said this number seemed high earlier but recent price increases may support it: “Since March 1, cotton prices have climbed from about 69 cents to 87 cents — the highest level since October 2023 for the December futures contract,” he said. “Will prices in the mid-80s keep cotton acres fairly stable? We won’t know until the June 30 Acreage Report.”
Planting progress has been ahead of schedule with sixty-six percent completed as of May compared to forty percent a week prior and well above recent averages. Zachary Treadway, extension cotton agronomist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture described last season as challenging: “We had so much rain during planting last year that we had replants and late plants that caused planting season to extend into June… After we got the crop in, the rain shut off and we had hot days and nights… We rebounded with kind weather during harvest.” Treadway added yields varied across regions: “I had producers in southeast Arkansas make a bumper crop, and I had producers in northeast Arkansas struggle to make two bales.”
In terms of processing capacity for harvested crops, Stiles reported stability: “We ran the same number of gins in 2025 as the previous year, which was twenty-six,” though total volume ginned fell by over half a million bales due to lower acreage and yields.
The University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service is part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and operates offices throughout all seventy-five counties using research centers across multiple campuses. The service aims to enhance agriculture as well as community well-being through research-backed programs supported by federal grants from USDA alongside state funding—serving rural through urban communities alike according to the official website.
