• By Bruce Schultz • Planting is underway or about to start for most crops in Louisiana, and farmers are watching the markets closely as the world economy reels from the fallout created by the novel coronavirus. Louisiana State University AgCenter economist Michael Deliberto said commodities are looking better this week, and the stock market has improved. But uncertainty from ... Read More »
• By Kane Webb • While things have slowed down across the country because of COVID-19, the past week and a half were busy for rice farmers in southwest Louisiana. Planting is underway and moving quickly, according to Dr. Dustin Harrell, rice specialist with the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station in Crowley. “A lot of rice has been water seeded, ... Read More »
• By Bruce Schultz • Many schools and workplaces have closed up shop amid the coronavirus pandemic. But in the world of agriculture, the show must go on. In Louisiana, this is rice and corn planting season — a busy and important time of year for farmers, who also will soon begin planting other crops such as soybeans and cotton. ... Read More »
More than 19.4 million acres of farmland nationwide went unplanted this season, according to an Aug. 12 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. This marks the most prevented plant acres reported since FSA began releasing the report in 2007 and 17.49 million acres more than reported at this time in 2018. Of those prevented plant acres, ... Read More »
While farmers in southeastern Arkansas prepare for the rising Arkansas River, some of their colleagues are coping with the opposite problem: dry fields. As of Friday’s (May 31) forecast, the river at Pendleton in Desha County was expected to reach 36 feet on June 6-7, well above the record of 34.1 feet. “You know, what’s weird is we have all ... Read More »
• By Tommy Butts • Heavy and relentless rainfall this spring has led to interest in water-seeding rice. This method can be an effective seeding strategy (Fig. 1); however, weed control becomes a bit more challenging, especially with residual herbicides and their potential to cause crop injury. If considering water-seeding rice, here are some weed control recommendations specific to water-seeding. ... Read More »
Heavy rainfall has been a challenge as rice farmers strive to get their 2019 crop planted. Farmers were able to get much of their crop planted during almost three weeks of dry weather, but rainfall during the first week of April has created an obstacle for farmers who needed to complete the rest of their planting. Todd Fontenot, Louisiana State ... Read More »
Early season disease management is becoming increasingly important as Texas rice farmers trend toward planting earlier at lower seeding rates (about 50 percent of Texas rice acreage is planted to hybrids). Clearly, the earlier plantings have a better chance of producing both high-yielding main and ratoon crops. But planting earlier means exposing seed to lower temperatures and possibly wetter soil, ... Read More »
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. Read More »
Hurricane created numerous hurdles for the Texas rice industry. Read More »
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