I grew up on a small farm in Lynn, Ark., where my dad, Howard Brannon, grew rice, soybeans and grain sorghum. While we spent time together, he taught me about agriculture, especially how to fix equipment. After observing one...

• SPONSORED CONTENT • My grandparents started Jones Flying Service in 1963, and I started flying for the business in 1997 as a third-generation ag pilot. In 2007, I also began farming rice and custom harvesting. And in 2016, I...

Growers get behind the camera to shoot videos and help educate the public about rice. By Vicky Boyd Editor When third-generation rice producer Matthew Sligar went to the University of California, Santa Cruz, to study modern American literature, he had no...

Aerial dry-seeding system helps fight weed resistance with new herbicide mode as well as a different cultural practice. By Vicky Boyd Editor Through three decades or so of experimentation, VA Farms has developed a dry seeding program that borrows from both...

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...

Change comes to Washington, D.C.; USA Rice is ready By Betsy Ward President and CEO USA Rice Every four or eight years, the country gets a new president, and he’s usually not from the party of the sitting president. In fact, only twice in modern history...

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...

For nearly eight hours recently, I listened to impassioned pleas from farmers, fishermen, politicians, environmentalists and the public about the California Water Resources Control Board’s proposal to nearly double the amount of free-flowing water in Stanislaus River tributaries. Unimpaired flows...

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 U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to provide $225 million in funding to 88 Regional Conservation Partnership Programs, including two that involve a partnership between Ducks Unlimited and USA Rice. Altogether, partners plan to contribute an additional $500 million to...

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...

After graduating from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and getting my pest control adviser (PCA) license, I planned to work for a manufacturer or distributor as a consultant. However, after returning to Northern California in March 2001, I had...

Fall is my favorite time of year, with the waning of hot weather, the crisp mornings and four-plus months of football to look forward to. Not only do sports bring families closer together in many ways, but they also provide at least a few...