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 to the expected decrease in rice acres compared with last year,” the USDA wrote in the report. “The expected decline in acres planted to long-grain rice in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas accounts for the decrease in both long-grain and all rice planted acres. Arkansas, the largest long-grain producing State, is expected to decrease long-grain acres by 26 percent.”
While long-grain acres will be down an average of 22 percent throughout the six rice states, medium-grain acreage is expected to remain the same. States seeing modest gains in medium-gain acreage are Arkansas and Louisiana.
The report is compiled by surveying growers and asking them how many acres they planned to plant this year.
|
U.S. Rice Acres |
|||
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 (est) | |
| Arkansas | 1,311,000 | 1,546,000 | 1,196,000 |
| California | 423,000 | 541,000 | 539,000 |
| Louisiana | 420,000 | 437,000 | 400,000 |
| Mississippi | 150,000 | 195,000 | 120,000 |
| Missouri | 182,000 | 236,000 | 206,000 |
| Texas | 133,000 | 195,000 | 165,000 |
| Total | 2,614,000 | 3,150,000 | 2,626,000 |
2015 and 2016 are harvested acres, which are typically less than planted acres.
2017 is estimated planted acres.
View the entire report at www.usda.gov.