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RICE FARMING Rob Mills Early in the 20th Century, a visitor to southern California remarked that the area he was seeing for the first time was the closest thing to the Garden of Eden he could ever imagine laying eyes on....

TODD MILLER BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA The adage “variety is the spice of life,” is often used to promote the idea that trying new and different things makes the world around us more interesting. And while few would consider rice “spicy,” two new varieties of...

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  BRUCE LINQUIST / UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS In California, most acreage is devoted to high quality, medium-grain varieties. Details of our 2025 varietal testing can be seen on our website at https://agronomy-rice.ucdavis.edu/. For this discussion and ease of interpretation, I...

  JUSTIN CHLAPECKA FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS Hello, everyone. This is my first column to contribute under my new job title — as an Assistant Professor of Agronomy with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. I’ve been in this role...

JARROD T. HARDKE FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS For the first time in my career, there is no excitement surrounding growing rice. Sometimes it has been lukewarm excitement, but with optimism. Not so for 2026. Given the market outlook, it is very difficult...

DR TERESA B. DE LEON / CALIFORNIA COOPERATIVE RICE RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC. Rice growers know that rice productivity varies year after year due to environmental challenges. However, not all varieties are equal, some varieties consistently performed better in specific locations....

SAM RUSTOM EAGLE LAKE, TEXAS In Texas, most of our commercial acreage is dedicated to hybrid rice production. Financially, it just makes more sense when our input costs tend to be higher than all our neighboring states in the...

WILL EUBANK MISSISSIPPI STATE, MISSISSIPPI Mississippi rice acres were hit hard in 2025. Facing delays in seed requests, contending with spring rains, delaying management decisions, and the emergence of a new pest all culminated in a growing season most...

DR. TYLER MUSGROVE BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA We are a little over a month away from the first seed drill hitting the ground to start the 2026 rice season in Louisiana. It’s no secret that variety selection remains one of...

RICHARD HICKS / R.E. HICKS GROUP LLC AN NFA REGISTERED INDEPENDENT IB. Welcome to the new year. Hopefully, during 2026 we will have a better season, yet from what we have seen so far that certainly seems to be somewhat...

  Baoshan Xing, University Distinguished Professor of Environmental and Soil Chemistry, director of UMass’ Stockbridge School of Agriculture International research co-led by UMass Amherst holds real promise for helping to meet the triple threat of growing population, climate change, and agriculture’s...

MIKE LOIZZO GAINSVILLE, FLORIDA The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) boasts organic-rich soil, ideal for farming. Rice producers, however, must deal with phosphorus and iron tightly bound in the soil, making them unavailable to plants. New University of Florida Institute of Food and...

MICHELLE LEINFELDER-MILES STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA Variety Trial: Delta rice acreage has been steadily increasing, and yields are comparable with the statewide average (Table 1). I estimate that Delta acreage approached, if not exceeded, 15,000 acres in 2025. To support the growing industry,...

Rice, It Is The Best Of Times And The Worst Of Times RICHARD E. HICKS OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI If I may be so bold to paraphrase Dickens rice farming today can be at the least challenging and best a daunting challenge. I...