Cover Story

ROB MILLS PERRYVILLE, MISSOURI One aspect of life you’ll find in the world of agriculture is the number of people who never leave their home area or return to it after a brief hiatus to spend the rest of their life...

How a Texas Rice Grower Honors His Family with His Crop ⋅ BY CASSIDY NEMEC ⋅ Editor Andrew Boettcher would have never imagined his life turning out the way it has years ago when he was running track at Stephen F. Austin...

Ongoing Study Explores Alternative Method to Managing Field Margins ⋅ BY WHITNEY BRIM-DeFOREST ⋅ CONTRIBUTIONS BY TAIYU GUAN, LUIS A. ESPINO, AND SARAH E. LIGH  University of California Cooperative Extension Incorporating hedgerows in rice could provide growers with an alternative method for managing...

Manipulating Post-Harvest Rice Fields for Maximizing Season-Long Food Supply for Pond-Raised Red Swamp Crawfish in Louisiana  BY MAHALA "HALEY" GAMBILL & MARK SHIRLEY ⋅ LSU AgCenter Crawfish aquaculture is the most profitable aquaculture endeavor in Louisiana, representing roughly 69% of the total gross farm value...

Specialists Give New Strength to Missouri Crops and Center ⋅ BY CASSIDY NEMEC ⋅ EDITOR Down in Portageville, Missouri, the Fisher Delta Research, Extension and Education Center (FDREEC) sits perched on Upper Delta soils in the “bootheel” region of the southeastern part...

The annual Rice Awards were presented on Dec. 7 in Little Rock, Arkansas. New Rice Leadership Development Class Announced Members of the 2025 Rice Leadership Development Class were announced recently during the annual Rice Awards Luncheon at this year’s USA Rice...

Growing a Sustainable Crop for the Bottom Line ⋅ BY CASSIDY NEMEC ⋅ EDITOR Jeff Rutledge owns and operates a farm in Newport, Arkansas, located between and along the White River and Black River. Rutledge has an undergraduate degree in agronomy from...

Working as a Team to Find Ways to Improve ⋅ BY CASSIDY NEMEC ⋅ Editor Brian McKenzie is a fourth-generation rice grower and California native. While he at first had his sights set on a corporate occupation, he is now sitting around...

How Water will Determine the Rice Industry ⋅ BY CASSIDY NEMEC ⋅ Editor On a Century Farm about 30 miles outside of Little Rock, Arkansas, Dow Brantley is running the farm business his grandfather started years ago. His dad is still...

Moving Forward on a Foundation of Past Success ⋅ BY DUSTIN HARRELL ⋅ California Rice Experiment Station The California Rice Experiment Station (RES) has a long legacy of supporting the California rice industry by providing new and improved rice varieties. The original...

How a Southeastern Arkansas Team Takes it to the Next Level ⋅ BY CASSIDY NEMEC ⋅ Editor Jim Whitaker, a McGehee, Arkansas, native, is a fifth-generation farmer alongside his brother Sam in a well-rounded rice, cotton, corn, soybean, and wheat operation. The Overall...

Discovery could lead to new fungicides to protect rice crops. ⋅ BY ROBERT SANDERS ⋅ UC BERKELEY A fungus that plagues rice crops worldwide gains entry to plant cells in a way that leaves it vulnerable to simple chemical blockers, a discovery that...

Understanding the ramifications on pesticides across the country ⋅ BY CASSIDY NEMEC ⋅ EDITOR Figuring out how the Endangered Species Act affects the agricultural industry can be both complex and frustrating. The ESA of 1973 was enacted by Congress under President Nixon...

Navigating rice crops and water restrictions. ⋅ BY CASSIDY NEMEC ⋅  Associate Editor As a former Texas A&M Yell Leader and current farmer in Eagle Lake, Texas, Tom Kelley never doubted for a second he’d end up back in farming.  Stemming from a...

A forecast for U.S. rice imports through 2060 and some reflections on how the world rice price really works What you need to know about the rice market in the United States is that the rice market in the Americas,...