The Louisiana Farm Bureau and the Louisiana State University AgCenter are working together to study the impacts that COVID-19 is having on the Louisiana crawfish industry. This survey is being used to collect needed information to quantify the impact of COVID-19 with factual data. It is extremely important that we get timely participation of this survey to strengthen the efforts ... Read More »

Riceland Foods of Stuttgart, Arkansas, has named Ben Noble executive vice president and chief operating officer. In his new role, he will oversee the company’s strategic direction product innovation and day-to-day administrative and operational functions. Noble joined the rice cooperative as vice president of marketing and strategy in September 2017, adding the role of vice president of sales in August ... Read More »

• By Bruce Schultz • An invasive species of snails has wiped out a 50-acre field of rice, the first time the pest has been known to do that in Louisiana. LSU AgCenter entomologist Blake Wilson said damaged rice and channeled apple snails were found throughout the field. “There was no trace of rice. If you didn’t know better, you’d ... Read More »

• By Steve Linscombe • Rice planting is progressing rapidly in the Texas rice production belt with some producers finishing earlier than normal. L.G. Raun, who farms near El Campo, planted his entire crop (CL151) in a three-day span from Feb. 29-March 2. “Other than a few herbicide application skips, the crop looks very good,” Raun said. On Monday, he ... Read More »

Despite storms that dumped several inches of snow on the Sierra Nevada over March, California’s snowpack only remains slightly more than half of average. That’s important because it supplies about 30% of California’s annual water needs as it melts in the spring and early summer. The California Department of Water Resources recently conducted its fourth manual snow survey of 2020 ... Read More »

• By Tommy Butts • Spray water quality, specifically pH and hardness, can impact the efficacy of numerous pesticides. It has been shown that as water pH increases into more alkaline or basic conditions (pH greater than 7), pesticide active ingredients become less stable and therefore, less effective. Most fungicides are better suited to be applied in spray water that ... Read More »

• By Ryan McGeeney • Arkansas growers intend to plant about 1.39 million acres of rice in 2020, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released March 31. The acreage is a rebound from 2019’s 1.15 million acres but still shy of 2018’s 1.44 million acres. The modest increase surprised some analysts, who expected acreage as high as 1.5 ... Read More »

U.S. rice imports continue to increase, setting a third consecutive record and now accounting for 20% of the domestic market. In a recent Rice Yearbook, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service projects imports of 32.5 million hundredweight (rough basis) for 2019/20, up 9% from a year earlier. Driving the increase is demand for Asian aromatic varieties, primarily jasmine ... Read More »

U.S. rice producers say they plan to plant 2.84 million acres this season, up 12% from the previous year’s planting intentions of 2.54 million acres, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service’s recently released planting intentions report. That compares to 2.946 million acres planted in 2018. The bulk of the acres — 2.1 million — will ... Read More »

• By Bruce Schultz • Crawfish producer Allen McLain’s business has dropped dramatically because of the coronavirus’ impact on the restaurant business. “We’re struggling. It’s not looking good,” said McLain of Abbeville, Lousiana. A big portion of his business is selling his product to area restaurants, but he said that has been sharply reduced. Crawfish are plentiful and have grown ... Read More »