Feature

• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • The California Rice Research Board recently honored Randall “Cass” Mutters with its annual Rice Industry Award. The recognition, presented at the California Rice Field Day, recognizes and honors an individual from any segment of the rice industry who has made outstanding contributions. “This is an honor to present this to Cass, who really needs no ... Read More »

• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • The California Rice Experiment Station has found a partner in Albaugh LLC to help bring their ROXY  herbicide-tolerant rice system to market. The agreement with the Ankeny, Iowa-based marketer of post-patent crop protection materials is the culmination of several years of effort to identify a registrant and partner by the California grower-owned organization. It was ... Read More »

Texas rice farmers are seeing near-record yields of good quality grain, and many are considering a second harvest, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Research experts. Dr. Lee Tarpley, AgriLife Research crop physiologist, Beaumont, says despite a few problems for some growers, a near-record yield is expected for producers who planted their fields early in spring. Producers in the state’s rice-growing ... Read More »

Mississippi growers will produce about 20 percent more rice this year, thanks in part to additional acres planted over 2017’s total. Larry Falconer, agricultural economist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, says early forecasts predict national yields near last year’s 7,400 pounds per acre. “National acreage is up about 20 percent. In Mississippi, the increase is slightly more at ... Read More »

The 2018 rice harvest in southwest Louisiana is past the halfway point, and Louisiana State University AgCenter agents say farmers are pleased. “Yields have been good, and it seems overall to be a very good crop,” says Jeremy Hebert, LSU AgCenter agent in Acadia Parish. “Overall, it seems like the yields have been very good.” Dry weather allowed most farmers ... Read More »

If you know a grower or entity that has embraced sustainability through innovative practices and leadership, they might be a perfect candidate for the second annual USA Rice Sustainability Award. Now in its second year, the award is designed to highlight rice’s unique environmental qualities and the men and women who improve its sustainability every day, according to a new ... Read More »

University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor Whitney Brim-Deforest has been to several farm calls in the past few weeks about an unknown grass weed. Between last season and this, she has seen seven fields that appear to have bad infestations of a new watergrass species (Echinochloa spp.). “We are unsure of the exact identification yet, but we know it ... Read More »

Billbugs, once an occasional pest of rice that cannot survive in standing water, are increasing pressure as row-rice acreage grows. Billbugs are weevils whose larvae bore into the side of rice tillers, or stems, and deprive developing grain heads of nutrients. This leads to “blank heads,” or heads that never develop kernels. Billbugs cannot survive aquatic conditions, making row rice, ... Read More »

Rice is beginning to head in the California rice-production area. As you scout your fields, keep weedy rice in mind. In the past few weeks, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisers have received 10 suspect samples. Of these, two have been confirmed as weedy, three are being investigated and the rest have been ruled out. They have also talked ... Read More »

Representatives of the Missouri Rice Research and Merchandising Council and Southeast Missouri State University recently traveled to Egypt to discuss the potential for shipping Missouri paddy rice to Egypt and collaborating on rice breeding and agronomic rice research with the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture. “Egypt is the gateway to Africa and the Middle East,” says Dr. Mike Aide, Southeast Missouri ... Read More »