Current Issue

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS EXTENSION MORRILTON, ARKANSAS  In the nation’s largest rice-growing state, questions are being asked about what can be done at the international level to make the playing field even in global rice trade. Global agricultural trade took center stage at...

MICHAEL KLEIN ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA Fighting a war on two fronts is never advisable. Sure, the Romans pulled it off a few times, and so did the allies in World Wars I and II, but they were dragged into those fights –...

VIDALINA ABADAM, ANDREW SOWELL, SETH WECHSLER, ANGELICA WILLIAMS AND JENNIFER BOND USDA U.S. Rice Stocks Are Raised On Lower Use Forecast The U.S. all-rice ending stocks projection for 2025/26 increased 5 million hundredweight (cwt) to 55.3 million this month, the highest...

KEN DUHE BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA The crawfish industry that Louisiana depends on today didn’t just grow organically – it was built, in large part, through decades of LSU research. Now, as new challenges emerge – from extreme weather to evolving biological...

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...

BOB SCOTT FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS And then it rained… What a difference rain can make.  I hope a lot of residual treatments went out between wind gusts prior to this rain setting in.  There was a noticeable difference in overall rice growth...

JOHN LOVETT FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS  Electricity and water don’t usually mix, but technological advancements in floating solar arrays open the potential to generate electricity while decreasing impacts on farm irrigation reservoirs and agricultural land. Michael Popp with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station is...

CONNOR WEBSTER BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA When it comes to deciding the direction of my research program, I rely heavily on my extension program to identify the needs of the industry. There’s always going to be unique one-off situations that may not...