Gifford Crop Consulting
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Because my family farmed, I have been around agriculture my entire life. In 2001, I started Gifford Crop Consulting, and my son, Miles, will join the business fulltime in May after graduating from Arkansas State University. My wife, Rachel, understands our business and is very supportive. My daughter, Meg, helps with the paperwork and pitches in during the busy season to keep all the trucks running smoothly. We are a rice consulting family.
Last year, most of my growers got planted in a timely manner. Those who got caught by rain planted later than is ideal. When you plant rice later than mid-May, you’re going to have more weed pressure. The early planted rice turned out above average, and the later crop was average.
I anticipate baryardgrass being our No. 1 grass problem in 2021, so we will use more residual herbicides than we have in the past. The first residual goes out behind the planter to try to keep the grass from coming up. However, because of the pressure in fields that have been in rice a long time, we will make an early post emergence application of Clincher® SF herbicide tankmixed with a residual, such as Prowl or Command, when the grass — including propanil-resistant grass — is at the 1- to 2-leaf stage.
Clincher SF does a good job on smaller grass when you get it out early on moist ground, and the residual keeps more grass from emerging. The key is to kill the grass that is out there in the field early. If you get behind with barnyardgrass, you are not going to catch up.
Production Practice Considerations
In fields with sedge, we apply Loyant® herbicide pre-flood when rice is at the 3- to 5-leaf stage. No product gives you 100% control, but Loyant was pretty close on the sedges. Where row rice acres continue to rise, we are applying a lot more Loyant for pigweed control. We also use it in levee rice or zero-grade rice. But we are definitely controlling sedges and pigweed in row rice with Loyant where we don’t have water as a control measure.
In our levee rice, we use RebelEX® herbicide — a pre-mix of Clincher SF and Grasp® SC herbicides — pre-flood, especially in fields with sprangletop and barnyardgrass. The Grasp component also picks up some aquatic weeds. To get the best results from RebelEX in water-seeded rice, it’s important to let the rice peg down and get established before making an application.
More about Scott Gifford
- Bachelor’s degree in general agriculture, Arkansas State University.
- Consults on rice, cotton, soybeans, wheat, milo and corn.
- Licensed crop consultant. Has consulted for 24 years.
- Member, Arkansas Agricultural Consultants Association; Ducks Unlimited; ASU Alumni Association; Arkansas
Officials Association; First Baptist Church, Manila. - Wife, Rachel. Son, Miles, 20. Daughter, Meg, 18.
- Arkansas high school basketball official and NCAA women’s basketball official. Runs MAG Guide Service with son Miles. Enjoys hunting and fishing.
