Feature

• By Bruce Schultz • Two Louisiana State University AgCenter rice experts gave their perspectives on the past growing season in Louisiana during a recent online presentation for the 2020 USA Rice Outlook Conference. The event is usually held in one of the six rice-producing states — it was scheduled for Austin, Texas, in 2020 — but it was held ... Read More »

• By Kevin Hecteman • Plans to convert nearly 200,000 acres of California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta farmland into rice production or tule-based carbon farms are being greeted with skepticism among representatives of Delta farmers. The Delta Conservancy, a state agency, has partnered with environmental organizations and universities on pilot projects aimed at stopping or slowing ongoing land subsidence in the ... Read More »

Two new Clearfield long-grain varieties offer good yield potential and disease package. • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • Two new Clearfield long-grain varieties available commercially in 2021 will up the ante with high yield potential, good grain quality and strong blast resistance. CLL16 is from the rice breeding program of University of Arkansas’ Karen Moldenhauer, while CLL17 is from Louisiana ... Read More »

First DynaGro rice variety shows high yield potential, good grain quality in trials. • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • Since acquiring Bayer’s rice breeding program in 2015, Nutrien Ag Solutions and its parent company, Agrium, have mostly flown under the radar developing new rice cultivars. That will change in 2021 with the launch of DG263L, a high-yielding, high-quality, long-grain inbred ... Read More »

Work continues on University of Arkansas’ NERREC, with trials planned for 2021. • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • If construction goes according to schedule, the University of Arkansas’ Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center near Harrisburg will begin hosting a limited number of field trials and experiments in 2021. Recently, ground was broken on a machinery shop that will include ... Read More »

Third Provisia rice variety boasts strong blast resistance, longer kernel. • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • If all goes as planned, Horizon Ag hopes to have enough seed of the new Provisia PVL03 rice variety to plant a very limited number of commercial acres in 2021. Significantly more seed should be available for the 2022 season, said Horizon Ag General ... Read More »

• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • After the discovery of rice delphacid in an El Campo, Texas, greenhouse last winter and a possible sighting recently in Victoria County, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research entomologist has cautioned growers and consultants to be on the lookout for the pest. “My gut feeling is that they’re here to stay,” said Dr. Mo Way, ... Read More »

• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • Normally in mid-July, Steve Linscombe would be mailing out brochures that promote the upcoming Rice Leadership Development Program and that seek rice industry applicants. But like so many events and programs this year, the leadership program has been disrupted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, says Linscombe, who heads the Rice Foundation, which oversees the ... Read More »

• By Vicky Boyd, Editor • Since acquiring Bayer’s rice breeding program in 2015, Nutrien Ag Solutions has mostly flown under the radar developing new rice cultivars for the U.S. market. That will change in 2021 with the launch of DGL-263X, a high-yielding, high-quality, long-grain inbred variety in final development and the first commercial rice cultivar under the DynaGro brand, ... Read More »

Despite coronavirus restrictions, rice breeding programs continue albeit with a few changes. • By Vicky Boyd, Editor • In mid-March, University of Arkansas rice breeder Xueyan Sha decided only a few days before his scheduled trip to the university’s Puerto Rican winter nursery to cancel it because of the coronavirus outbreak. Although the move meant he wouldn’t be able to ... Read More »