Industry News

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its Prospective Plantings Report March 31, and it showed  rice growers planned to plant about 17 percent fewer acres this season than in 2016. "The expectation of higher prices for competing commodities is contributing...

Officials with Southeast Missouri State University's Department of Agriculture recently dedicated a new greenhouse designed for rice research at its Malden Regional Campus. The 1,500-square-foot facility is expected to broaden rice breeding efforts spearheaded by the Missouri Rice Research and...

James Rice Farms has opened a new rice mill in Prairie Ronde, La. A partnership between Beth James and Rolando Sanchez, it processes the branded Prairie Ronde Rice, named after the area in which it is grown. The facility, which will...

Houston-based RiceTec and Adama Agricultural Solutions, an Israel-based crop protection company, plan to collaborate on development of herbicide-tolerant non-genetically engineered rice hybrids. The announcement of the FullPage Rice Cropping Solution, as the herbicide-tolerant rice hybrid system will be called, was...

For more than six decades, a major stop along the way to a new rice farming season is the Mid-South Farm & Gin Show. This year’s event will be held at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tenn., March 3-4. “The...

University of California Cooperative Extension names top three producers in its 2016 annual rice yield contest. By Bruce Linquist In 2015 University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) initiated the UCCE Rice Yield Contest as a pilot study in Butte County. In...

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking comments on a proposal that could potentially severely restrict the use of pyrethroid insecticides, including Warrior, Mustang and several others. The agency's actions are part of a registration review it is conducting on the...

The Environmental Protection Agency has granted a Section 3 registration for quizalofop-P-ethyl, the active ingredient in Provisia herbicide from BASF Corp., for use on Provisia rice. State registrations are pending. As part of the registration, the EPA will require that...

Horizon Ag expects to have adequate 2017 seed supplies of its tried-and-true Clearfield varieties. By Vicky Boyd Editor The same weather issues that took a toll on much of the Mid-South’s 2016 rice crop also affected seed production for Horizon Ag. But...

Poor weather and unexpected increase in rice acreage combine to tighten RiceTec hybrid seed supplies for 2017. By Vicky Boyd Editor The same hot nighttime temperatures and untimely rains that significantly reduced rice yields in many parts of the Mid-South in 2016 also affected RiceTec’s seed...

In 2015, University of California Cooperative Extension began the UCCE Rice Yield Contest as a pilot study in Butte county. Due to the success of the pilot study, the contest in 2016 was expanded to include all of Sacramento...

The American Farm Bureau Federation presented its highest honor—the Distinguished Service Award—to Bob Stallman, a Texas rice and cattle producer. Before spending 16 years as president of AFBF, he was president of the Texas Farm Bureau from 1993 to...

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards will be the featured speaker at the Louisiana Rice Council and the Louisiana Rice Growers Association annual joint membership meeting, Feb. 7, in Jennings. The meeting of the state’s two largest grower organizations will be...

The Natural Resources Conservation Service has added 11 new projects, including one that protects Louisiana shorebirds, to its efforts that help agricultural producers make wildlife-friendly improvements. It is part of NRCS's Working Lands for Wildlife effort. In Louisiana, the project will...

Rice entomologist named head of LSU entomology department Dr. Mike Stout, who for 19 years has served as a rice entomologist, was recently named head of the Louisiana State University Department of Entomology. He replaces Jim Ottea, who served as...