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As a longtime Horizon Ag customer and seed producer, Prairie County, Arkansas Farm Manager Darren Walker has seen a lot of good-yielding pure-line varieties introduced, only to be replaced by a better-yielding variety every few years.
The two newest Clearfield® long grain varieties from Horizon — CLL18 and CLL19 — have exceeded those expectations, however, with both earning their place in Walker’s Wingmead Farms operation.
CLL18
Since CLL18 was developed in the University of Arkansas rice breeding program and there was a lot of excitement about how it had performed in tests, Walker expected that it would be a solid variety in the state. What he didn’t know was that it would end up being the top-yielding variety on his farm.
“I’ve been planting Horizon Ag varieties for approximately 20 years and have been growing seed production for the last nine years, and I’ve got to say CLL18 raised the bar for Horizon Ag,” said Walker. “Yield-wise, CLL18 is superior to any Horizon Ag variety we have grown. It also seems to perform well across a wide range of soil types and seeding rates.”
Up until the last two seasons, Clearfield variety CLL16 had consistently been the top-yielding variety for Wingmead Farms. That changed when Walker planted CLL18 for the first time in 2023, and it beat the next closest yielding variety by 10 bushels an acre.
In 2024, CLL18 averaged 204 bushels per acre on Wingmead Farms. And increased yield potential is only part of the story, he says.
“CLL18 is a very robust variety that offers excellent harvestability,” said Walker. “We planted some of it in row rice this year and saw very good performance. I think farmers should give it a look in their row rice programs.”
Since the variety doesn’t have the level of blast resistance common in some newer Clearfield varieties like CLL16 and CLL19, he recommends growers take the threat of disease into account with their management strategy and field selection. “We didn’t have any rotten neck or panicle blast this past season, but that can change from year to year. Growers may need a fungicide to control blast and maintain CLL18’s top-end potential.”
With rice growers facing another year of economic challenges in 2025, Walker adds that a high-yielding pure-line variety like CLL18 may be particularly attractive compared to hybrid rice when it comes to managing the bottom line.
“I would strongly recommend CLL18 this season, due to its reduced cost [compared to hybrid seed] and its excellent yield potential.”
CLL19
A semi-dwarf Clearfield variety developed by the LSU AgCenter breeding program, CLL19 was impressive in its first year of production on Wingmead Farms, providing high-yield potential, blast resistance and the advantages of planting an early-maturing variety to spread out planting and harvest timing.
“We really like what we saw with CLL19,” said Walker. “With its short stature, it stands well and has good stem strength. It has a big, showy head and really looks the part of a high-yielding variety. The high headset on CLL19 makes it more combine-friendly. And it yielded well, averaging 195 bushels per acre on the farm last year.”
Another plus is that CLL19 has industry-leading blast resistance with the Pi-ta and Pi-km genes, he says, although growers will want to monitor for other threats like sheath blight. Walker made one fungicide application last season “for sheath blight and kernel smut and we didn’t have problems with either disease.”
Although Wingmead Farms is too far north to grow a ratoon crop of CLL19 like growers can do in the coastal regions of Louisiana and Texas, he says the early maturity of the variety is still an advantage.
“I like to plant a very early-maturing variety like CLL19 in conjunction with varieties like CLL18, which is a little later maturing, and CLL16 which has the flexibility to be planted later,” explained Walker. “I can start with CLL19, then plant CLL18 followed by CLL16 and spread out our planting and harvesting.”