Thursday, June 4, 2026

Researchers Document Rice Plants Trapping And Killing Fall Armyworm Caterpillars

JOHN LOVETT FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS  Rice plants and Venus flytraps share something in common that was not scientifically documented until recently. Using a faint smell to lure caterpillars into a trap, rice plants kill early-stage fall armyworm larvae by trapping them in a...

Rice Processing Research Points To Evolving Milling Rates As Quality Factor  

Research suggests commingling certain cultivars is a source of decreased head rice yield JOHN LOVETT FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS  Research by the Arkansas Rice Processing Program is showing valuable insights for rice farmers that affect their take-home pay and the quality of rice for...

Economists: 2nd Planting Usually More Profitable Than Taking Prevented Planting

MARY HIGHTOWER LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS  Rice growers unable to finish their initial planting are weighing whether to try again, plant soybeans, or take a prevented planting payment, extension specialists said. The Risk Management Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture offers prevented...

With Planting Nearly Complete, Arkansas Rice Faces A Challenging Spring

RYAN MCGEENEY LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS  Rice planting in Arkansas, which provides about half of the country’s total crop, is always a weather-dependent process. Whether the preceding winter is harsh or mild, the spring wet or dry, every turn of the calendar...

State Farmers Change Way They Grow Rice

BONNIE COBLENTZ STARKVILLE, MISSISSIPPI  When a system works, there is little reason to change and many reasons to stick with success; any change in that system is often small things to improve efficiency. Mississippi’s rice industry is not following that pattern. Rice has...

As Row Rice Acres Rise In Arkansas, Billbug Pest Takes Center Stage

RYAN MCGEENEY LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS Rice billbug has been a pest in U.S. rice production for as long as farmers have been growing it. But in 2026, it’s almost certainly going to be the No. 1 pest Arkansas rice farmers will...

It’s Time For Rice Country To Play Economic Hardball

MICHAEL KLEIN USA RICE FEDERATION The rice industry has spent years fighting imports “the right way” – working through proper legislative and regulatory channels, asking for fair policy, playing the long game. What we've gotten in return are half-measures, delayed action,...

May WASDE Signals Optimism For Soybean, Corn, Cotton, Rice Growers

MARY HIGHTOWER JONESBORO, ARKANSAS  May’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, or WASDE, report is shining a biofueled ray of light as it forecasts higher average prices for soybeans and corn. Each month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s World Agricultural Outlook Board issues...

Where Can You Reduce Fertilizer Input Costs?

BRUCE A. LINQUIST DAVIS, CALIFORNIA This post is somewhat a repeat of last year’s. However, while last year the rice price was low, this year we have both low rice prices and high fertilizer costs. Therefore, there is even more reason...

Graduate Student Research Highlight: Protecting Head Rice Yield To Improve Milling Stability

FLAVIA FURLAN BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA Field yield is only one part of the profitability equation for rice producers. Even when a crop yields well, losses during milling can significantly reduce its value. A major contributor to those losses is grain fissuring,...

Specialists Speaking-JARROD T. HARDKE

Prepare To Defend JARROD T. HARDKE ARKANSAS We grow rice in water with plenty of heat and humidity. Essentially, it’s a potential disease paradise. Fortunately, breeding and cultivar selection, along with improving agronomics, have taken us a long way in the fight...

Specialists Speaking-SAM RUSTOM

Disease Management In Texas Rice SAM RUSTOM EAGLE LAKE, TEXAS Disease management in Texas rice is shaped by our warm, humid Gulf Coast climate, ratoon cropping, and evolving pest pressures. According to the Texas Plant Disease Handbook, “sheath blight, caused by the...

Specialists Speaking-LUIS ESPINO

Bakanae LUIS ESPINO CALIFORNIA In the past few years, there has been an increase in the incidence of fields infested with bakanae. This disease, caused by a fungus, was first found in California in 1999. Bakanae is a seedborne disease that causes...

California Rice Fields Provide Vital Habitat For Birds, Fish, Snakes

Linquist contributes to report on acreage needed for wildlife conservation TRINA KLEIST AND KAT KERLIN DAVIS, CALIFORNIA Will California’s rice acreage be enough to meet the needs of key species that thrive in the crop’s seasonally flooded fields? If not, how much...

US Rice Producers

MARK RASMUSSEN EL CAMPO, TEXAS Mark Rasmussen is a member of the US Rice Producers Association (USRPA), an alternate board member of the Texas Rice Council, and a third-generation rice farmer on the Texas Gulf Coast. For decades, my family and I...

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