• By Bruce Schultz • Scientists at the Louisiana State University AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station detailed their work in an online field day presentation July 1. Mike Salassi, LSU AgCenter vice president for plant and animal science, said the virtual field day was necessary as a safeguard against the coronavirus pandemic. Salassi said rice adds $1 billion ... Read More »

• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • The Louisiana State University AgCenter showed off a number of promising varieties that potentially could be released in coming years during its recent first-ever virtual rice field day. The annual event, held at the university’s H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station near Crowley, was changed to an online format this year after the coronavirus ... Read More »

• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • Adama has rolled out two off-patent herbicides for rice this season and has two more planned for introduction next year, providing they receive registration. This season, the company introduced Volpak 3ME, a micro-encapsulated formulation of clomazone, and Zurax L, a liquid formulation of quinclorac. The products join Preface and Postscript, which are paired with ... Read More »

A global health crisis and its attendant economic impacts, unusually wet weather and an ongoing trade dispute with China had a discouraging effect on Arkansas growers’ acreage decisions for some key crops in 2020, even as farmers went all in on others. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released its annual Acreage report Tuesday, revealing planting decisions ... Read More »

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service has released its 2020 acreage report shows U.S. rice growers planted slightly more than 2.9 million acres this season. That compares to about 2.5 million acres in 2019. This figures are for short-, medium- and long-grain combined. Leading the plantings was Arkansas with 1.43 million acres planted this year, up from ... Read More »

• By Yeshi Wamishe • This is a reminder for you to take samples of rice roots from your fields to gauge how much the wet conditions this year followed by the normal permanent flood have affected your rice. This note is more useful for fields that have a history of hydrogen sulfide toxicity/autumn decline. However, it does not exclude ... Read More »

A paper written by a doctoral student and faculty of the department of food science in the University of Arkansas has been named an “editor’s pick” by the Cereals & Grains Association. The paper, “Physicochemical and Functional Properties of Medium-Sized Broken Rice Kernels and Their Potential in Instant Rice Production,” was written by doctoral student Rebecca Bruce, associate professor of ... Read More »

Jim Harper, a rice, crawfish, sugarcane and soybean farmer in Rapides Parish, has been elected as the 12th president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau. Harper now leads the state’s largest general farm organization at a pivotal moment where farmers face a number of issues in the state and nation. He succeeds Ronnie Anderson of Ethel, Louisiana, who served for 31 ... Read More »

Friends and employees of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture honored outgoing Cooperative Extension Service director Rick Cartwright June 26 with a $40,000 scholarship endowment created and named in honor of him and his wife, Lynette. The Rick and Lynette Cartwright Scholarship Endowment will be managed by the Arkansas 4-H Foundation. Proceeds from the endowment will fund future ... Read More »

Composite binders are important materials used in furniture, flooring and other consumer products, but they can pose health hazards. Now, Purdue University researchers have developed a lower-cost, sustainable and greener method for producing composite boards – a method that is already seeing growing support from major industry players. Fabrication of many composite boards requires the use of formaldehyde-based resin binders ... Read More »