The 2014 rice production season has come to a close, while hunting season, the holidays and planning for 2015 are in full swing. An important part of the planning process for next year is attending winter meetings to stay...

Bo Hanneken Christy PCA, Wilbur-Ellis Company Colusa, Calif. I grew up in Missouri where my FFA agronomy team placed at many different competitions, including State and the Purdue Invitational Crops Contest. I moved to California when I was 17 and...

On its anniversary, USRPA looks back at 2014 and ahead to 2015. December marks the 17th anniversary of the US Rice Producers Association, or USRPA. Today, it remains the only national rice organization comprised of rice farmers, elected by rice...

Arkansas farmers share their recipe for success The main ingredients for their operation's success, according to fifth- and sixth-generation Arkansas rice farmers Paul and Gil Dreher, include choosing the right varieties, investing in a grain management system, managing their water...

USA Rice works to keep existing markets open and free of barriers as well as find new ones for U.S. rice. All indicators are pointing to a robust rice crop this year despite the devastating drought gripping parts of rice...

Winner, Winner! Cannon Cummings, son of Marc and Ashley Cummings, was the proud winner of a $25 Academy Sports + Outdoors gift certificate at the 2014 RiceTec Field Day in Harrisburg, Ark. Congratulations, Cannon! Marc is a rice consultant in...

By Danny May Southeast Coop Qulin, Mo. I remember that the first rice field I ever scouted as a college intern was north of Marks, Miss. Later, I spent time scouting in northeast Louisiana, North Carolina and Kentucky. In 2009, Mike Galloway...

CRC partnerships help fuel conservation in rice fields By Paul Buttner, Environmental Affairs Manager, California Rice Commission This was another eventful year as the California Rice Commission (CRC) successfully helped deliver programs to growers who willingly engage in wildlife conservation. It...

Dr. Jarrod T. Hardke Arkansas Rice Extension Agronomist University of Arkansas, Cooperative Extension Service [email protected] Strange is the New Normal Arkansas rice farming in 2014 was a lot like a line heard often about playing cards: it wasn't necessarily a matter of holding good cards,...

In the case where the rice customer is the beholder, then as the old Ford slogan once proclaimed – "Quality is Job One." An emphasis must be placed on quality by every segment of the marketing chain. The world market is not static, and dramatic changes are affecting markets at our doorstep. The best example is our top market – Mexico. The U.S. share of the Mexican market was 99 percent as late as 2010, but we have fallen to just 78 percent in the first nine months of 2014. Thankfully, the U.S. industry is addressing the problem to find and implement solutions. We've taken a long-term approach, establishing a protocol to evaluate potential new U.S. rice varieties, looking at parameters such as bran streaks, chalk, kernel color, uniformity of length and overall appearance. The parameters are graded by mills on a number scale that will prevent substandard varieties from making it to market. While the program is voluntary, I would encourage all plant breeders developing new rice varieties to participate in the protocol for maximum impact. And, of course, we're putting great emphasis on rice research to provide growers with high yield varieties that meet the quality demands of the customers.

Years ago, when I became editor of Rice Farming magazine, I knew I had a lot to learn in order to do a good job of communicating the mission of "profitable production strategies" to our readership. The best way...

While there is always a chance of a few surprises, it appears that 2014 was a good production year with aboveaverage yields and good to very good quality being reported. Now the focus will be on finding enough demand for rice supplies that are estimated at nearly 10 percent higher than the previous year. Based on USDA's October 2014 supply and demand estimates, demand is expected to increase by seven percent for the 2014/15 marketing year. While positive, this increase isn't expected to be enough to keep ending stocks from experiencing a sharp increase – nearly nine million hundredweights (cwts), a 27 percent increase from last year and five percent above the five-year average. While domestic rice usage and total rice exports are expected to increase during the 2014/15 marketing year, the slow start to export sales has placed a cloud over the market. The reported good quality of the 2014 crop and the current lower prices should help continue to support domestic demand. The struggle with demand has been in the export market. To this point, total rice exports are down 13 percent from a year ago. With exports for the 2014/15 marketing year expected to be up by 10 percent, this market will need to see a significant improvement in export business moving forward to meet those expectations. And while it is still very early in the marketing year, the slow start is concerning. This is especially true for longgrain milled rice exports, which are currently running 27 percent behind last year's pace. Without some improvement in export business, there seems little to entice mills from moving from current price levels.

I’ve never been much of a cook, but I am a creative, which means when you get in a situation for which you have no explanation, you just make something up. Let’s consider Halloween 2014. While trying to answer...

Please Comment On Proposed WOTUS Rule By October 20! Arkansas congressman Rick Crawford recently noted that EPA’s new proposed rule under the Clean Water Act titled “Waters of the U.S.,” or WOTUS, is definitely cause for concern among rice farmers. And...

After talking with a rice farmer a few days ago, he reminded me of the important part that “the other half of the team” plays in successfully running a farming operation. In his particular case, a rice farming operation....