YEAREND: 2025 proves another trying year for Arkansas soybean growers
Put simply, 2025 “probably wasn’t as good as most people were wanting.” — Jeremy Ross
By Ryan McGeeney
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Dec. 22, 2025
Fast Facts:
- April flooding cost growers time, money in lost plantings
- Trade impasse with China crippled sales
- $12 billion aid package will primarily service debt
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LITTLE ROCK — 2025 was an uphill fight and then some for most Arkansas growers, especially those heavily invested in soybean acres.
Put simply, 2025 “probably wasn’t as good as most people were wanting,” said Jeremy Ross, extension soybean agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
Many growers were hoping 2025 would pull them out of a financial hole, after having endured some of the lowest commodity prices in more than 30 years, with 2024 soybeans averaging $10.03 per bushel — well under 2022’s $14.20 and 2023’s $12.55.
But those higher prices never materialized. In January, President Trump began issuing a flurry of tariffs against China and other trading partners, effectively upending any expectation of trade stability for U.S. producers. China reduced its purchase of U.S. soybeans from about $12.7 billion in 2024 to zero in the early months of 2025. Only in October did China agree to resume purchasing the U.S. commodity, promising to buy about $12 billion worth of U.S. soybeans in the final months of 2025.
In the intervening months, between spring planting and fall harvest, Mother Nature wasn’t making things any easier. Heavy rainfall in early April flooded approximately one third of the more than 839,000 planted crop acres, primarily in the eastern third of the state. Division of Agriculture agronomists estimated that soybeans made up about 78,000 of those acres.
Ross estimated at the time that only about 15 percent of planned soybean acres — approximately 3 million acres — had been planted before the flooding, leaving growers more time to capitalize on the ideal planting window for maximum yield. It would come at a cost, though, with replant costs for soybeans alone estimated at more than $8.8 million. Between the sunk costs of initial planting, the foregone value of lost crops and the cost of replanting, Division of Agriculture economists estimated a $99 million impact across all Arkansas crops.
The April flooding essentially divided many Arkansas commodities into two crops for the year — those surviving acres planted before the flood, and those planted after.
“There was also a lot of rainfall in May, so a lot of things didn’t happen in a timely manner,” Ross said. “After May, things just turned hot and dry and stayed that way. Even October was unseasonably dry.
“In the end, we had some issues that reduced yield and affected quality,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture initially estimated Arkansas yield to be at a near-record 56 bushels an acre but later adjusted that to 54 bushels. Based on anecdotal interactions with Arkansas growers, Ross said that would likely drop another one to two bushels.
In October, Division of Agriculture economists Hunter Biram, Ryan Loy and Scott Stiles authored “The State of the Arkansas Crop Economy in 2025,” a joint publication of the Division of Agriculture, the Fryar Price Risk Management Center of Excellence and Southern Risk Management Education. The authors estimated net returns for major row crops across Arkansas, finding that soybean producers could expect to lose more than $85 per crop acre, between depressed commodity prices and elevated input costs.
In November, USDA released its first Crop Production report since September, following a 43-day shutdown of the federal government. According to the report, the state’s overall soybean production estimate fell to about 138.7 million bushels, a 16 percent decline from 2024’s 166.1 million bushels.
On Dec. 8, Trump announced a $12 billion aid package, aimed at “American farmers impacted by unfair market disruptions.” Approximately $11 billion of that amount is expected to go toward growers producing major commodity crops, including soybeans.
Ross said that while any help is welcome, the majority of any federal aid farmers receive will likely go directly toward servicing debt.
“That money’s already spent,” Ross said. “Farmers are looking at where they can and can’t cut, just to make it through another year.”
Soybeans were No. 2 among Arkansas’ top commodities, generating $2.3 billion in cash farm receipts, according to the 2025 Agriculture Profile.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas
System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment)
without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital
or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other
legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media contact: Ryan McGeeney,