WILL EUBANK
MISSISSIPPI STATE, MISSISSIPPI
Mississippi’s 2025 rice crop was one with many ups and downs. Overall, this year’s planted and failed acres totaled to 161,000 acres, which was 36,000 more than Mississippi’s last five-year average. Bolivar county led rice acres in the state with 46,774 acres, followed by Tunica county with 31,251 acres.
Before the year even started seed availability was the foremost question on rice producers’ minds. Shortages in seed production, mainly caused by poor seed production the previous year, led to rampant supply chain issues in the state. Which ultimately severely affected Mississippi’s final total acreage for 2025.
Rice planting started in the middle of March with a very calm and opportune early planting window. Throughout early April, Mississippi experienced severe rainfall that submerged fields across the state, in certain cases leaving them flooded for periods greater than 10 days. When the Mississippi optimum planting window arrived in mid-April, approximately 50% to 60% of the rice acres had been planted. However, weekly rains weren’t yet over, forcing delays in herbicide applications, levee establishment, and fertilizer application. Some producers were forced to spoon-feed their pre-flood nitrogen because constant rainfall never allowed them back into their fields after levees were pulled, or worse, never established. Early to mid-May rice had to contend with significantly less rainfall. As of June, the Mississippi Delta experienced 50% more rainfall than it normally receives.
When harvest began in earnest in late August, the benefits of hitting the early planting window were noticed. Good yields and milling reports across the board for most varieties. As the calendar shifted into September, many rice producers began to reap some of the consequences of those early spring rains. Lower-than-expected yields were being reported, after experiencing delays in nitrogen application.
One particular problem that surfaced was rice split stem. Split stem is a condition where the rice plants form an additional tiller or multiple tillers on an upper node of the plant. Many factors can influence this, i.e. herbicide drift, delayed nitrogen, or other environmental stressors. In some fields, as much as a 100 bushels per acre yield reduction was observed.
In addition to the split stem, the rice delphacid made its appearance in Mississippi. Don Cook and Tyler Towles were the first to confirm a population in Stoneville, Mississippi. Populations have been confirmed in Bolivar, Humphries, Leflore, Sunflower, and Washington counties. The delphacid did not impact a large number of acres for 2025 but will be a pest to monitor for the future.
Surprisingly, our later-planted rice performed well in certain environments. Some yields were reported as high as 225 bushels per acre for June-planted rice. Overall, Mississippi average rice yield and milling quality will probably be decreased from 2024, due to the myriad of issues producers faced in 2025 during our optimum planting window.
Following an extremely difficult year, Mississippi 2026 rice outlook is bleak. Rice acres seem to be trending down to around 110,000 acres. ∆
WILL EUBANK
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERVICE