Water Management

Arkansas crop producers who want to get a better handle on water use in 2019 will have several opportunities through a series of irrigation/water management schools. “The schools are small groups with short instruction and include practical exercises,” says Chris...

Dustin  Harrell, Louisiana State University AgCenter agronomist and Extension rice specialist, has released a detailed compilation of the varieties and hybrids planted and grown in the state during the 2018 season. New to this year's data are water management...

According to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, all of our Southeast Missouri delta has a huge replenishing aquifer. So if your well is not pumping to capacity, it’s not a lack of water in your aquifer — it’s...

Conventional flood and optimized AWD produced highest yields after two-year Mississippi State University trial. By Bobby Golden Producing rice in a “rowed-up” manner as other row crops such as corn, soybeans and cotton was a foreign concept just a few years...

We know some of you do a lot of fall/winter tillage to control weeds. However, a spring burndown herbicide application or tillage just prior to seeding can help achieve a clean seedbed. Practicing a stale seedbed can also help...

Most rice cultivated in the Mid-South is produced using the direct-seeded, delayed-flood production method. In this system, a continuous flood is maintained from five-leaf growth stage until a few weeks prior to harvest. Currently, there is emphasis being placed on alternative...

Multiple-inlet rice irrigation relies on poly tubing and Pipe Planner software to boost water-use efficiency while reducing overall use. By Vicky Boyd Editor Scott Matthews, a rice producer south of Jonesboro, Ark., experimented with multiple-inlet rice irrigation about 10 years ago, had a couple of self-described disasters and...

Simple, farmer-built gauge helps augment water management. By Vicky Boyd Editor More than 40 years ago, Leroy Isbell, a rice producer near England, Ark., built his first rice water gauge after seeing one in a store in Carlisle, Ark. “It had a block of...

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...

The University of California's Agriculture and Natural Resources has established a $1 million endowed chair for California grown rice. The position, one of 100 created by UC President Janet Napolitano's matching-fund program in 2014, will provide a UC Cooperative Extension scientist...

Intermittent flooding leads to water savings and potential profit from greenhouse gas offset credit sales. By Mark Isbell 2016 presents an opportunity for Mid-South rice farmers to reap additional profits from irrigation conservation practices beyond just water savings. They will have a...

Northern California rice producers received good news today as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the sprawling Central Valley Project, announced it would make full deliveries north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. In making the initial allocations, the...

Richard Costello Boeuf Delta Ag Services Northeast Louisiana While in college, I interned with Jack McDaniel, an independent consultant at the time, and enjoyed it even though the hours were long. I also did two internships with a crop protection company on...

Farmers prepare for the possibility of new curtailments By Ching Lee Calif. Farm Bureau Federation When it came, the notice was disappointing but not surprising: The State Water Resources Control Board warned farmers, ranchers and other people with water rights...

Rice industry, DU recognized for habitat conservation efforts Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recently announced approved grants from the first round of proposals to the new Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). The USA Rice Federation, Ducks Unlimited, Inc. (DU) and...