Having held it for the past three years, the University of California Cooperative Extension plans to conduct its Rice Yield Contest again this season.
In 2017 — an overall low-yield year — Extension had three winners with yields ranging from 101 to 116 hundredweight per acre.
They were Rodney Jenkins, Seth Fiack and Kim Gallagher.
Jenkins farms near Biggs (NE region) and had the overall highest yields at 115.5 cwt per acre.
Fiack farms near Glenn (NW region) and achieved a yield of 105.6 cwt per acre. And Gallagher farms near Grimes (SE region) and achieved a yield of 100.9 cwt per acre.
Interestingly, in all cases the winning fields were planted with the variety M-209. This variety has about a six-day longer growing duration than the more popular M-206.
Last year’s winners received a cap from UCCE and, compliments of AgOne Solutions, a color aerial map of 200 contiguous acres at a resolution of 2 inches per pixel (each valued at $600).
UCCE encourages participation from throughout the Sacramento Valley and has divided the region into four quadrants to take into account soil and climate variations that could affect yield.
For more information as well as access to entry forms, please visit http://rice.ucanr.edu/Rice_Yield_Contest/.
The last day to submit the entry forms is at the annual California Rice Field Day, Aug. 29.