The Mid-South Farm and Gin Show, planned for March 2-3 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee, features a host of educational seminars and workshops as well as the ever-popular trade show. Carl Brothers, senior vice president and chief...

An Arkansas task force has finalized voluntary smoke management guidelines for agricultural burning. The measures are designed to address public health concerns about smoke caused when farmers burn row-crop field residue in the fall. Among the task force were members...

Rice growers are focusing on making a profit in 2018, and variety selection is always at the forefront. Thanks to our farmers, industry and universities for our research. According to variety studies at University of Missouri, Portageville, at the...

It’s nice to see rice prices improved over this point last year. With that in mind, an increase in rice acres seems guaranteed— possibly a large increase. The success seen in 2017 points toward several viable planting options for...

In California, most farmers grow medium-grain varieties. The commercially available medium Calrose rice varieties have been selected to meet the high quality and yield standards for California.  Varietal selection is one of the first and most important decisions a rice...

Choosing the right rice varieties and hybrids to plant is one of the first, and debatably, the most important decisions a farm manager makes each year. Agronomics, economics and field-by-field dynamics all play a large role in the decision-making...

With 2017 in the rearview mirror, we look forward to 2018 coming off the best yielding year we have had in Mississippi in the past few years. One of the first questions to ask is, “Do I plant the...

I was recently talking with a very reputable Texas rice consultant, and he highly recommended spreading your planting date so all your rice does not mature at the same time. I recall in 2016 rice storage capacity in Texas...

In 2015, University of California Cooperative Extension began the UCCE Rice Yield Contest as a pilot study in Butte County. Due to its success, the contest was expanded in 2016 to include all of Sacramento Valley. Because of possible yield potential differences,...

Pinnacle Rice Cooperative was recently launched to increase member returns by providing liquidity, quality and logistical support to the California rice industry. Calrose Co-op, a grower-owned cooperative comprising rice farmers throughout Northern California, was folded into the Butte County Rice...

Feral pig numbers soar, requiring long-term management programs to battle the pests. By Vicky Boyd Editor Expanding wild hog populations and the increasing damage they cause have made the news recently with headlines like “World War III” or “When Pigs Go...

A new risk-management program aids growers of specialty and organic rices, while another sleuths out fraudulently labeled organic rice. As the national organization dedicated to successfully representing and serving all segments of the U.S. rice industry, I wanted to share...

Year-end doldrums mean little potential for prices to climb until after the start of the new year. By Kurt Guidry The rice market appears to be stuck in a sideways trading pattern with little indications of significant moves in either direction....

If you don’t tell the story of the rice industry, somebody else will, and you may not like what they say. That was the take-home message from two growers and a media expert who shared their experiences using social...

A reservoir under construction west of Houston will serve many beneficiaries, including the rice industry. By Vicky Boyd Editor The 40-foot earthen and concrete embankments that ring the 40,000 acre-foot Arbuckle Reservoir are essentially completed, with crews continuing to work on...