Horizon Ag: Results Coming in Strong in Deep South, Prospects Promising as Harvest Begins Moving North

South Louisiana and Texas

Harvest is well on the downhill side of things. I would say we are 75 percent complete in Louisiana and that, or a little more, in Texas. It has been a good crop so far. We aren’t going to set a state record in Louisiana or Texas, but I think we are going to be close.
 
Harvest has been a challenge in Texas because of storage space. Most of the dryers have limited farmers to a certain number of loads per day, which has slowed things down a bit. There is also a lot of concern about space for the ratoon crop in Texas. Some farmers are questioning how much they will actually ratoon. We’ve also had some similar issues in Louisiana. We have had a challenge moving dry rice to the mill because the rice was harvested so close together that there weren’t enough trucks to cover the amount of rice needing to go to the mill. 
 
The ratoon crop in Louisiana is finally coming around. We were so dry at the beginning of harvest that rice was not growing back. Once farmers flushed the fields, or we got a few rains, things took off. I have been getting a lot of questions about ratoon crop fertility. If you do have a question, give me a call and I will be happy to help.
 
The Provisia™ Rice System has been outstanding. Farmers are really pleased with the yields on this new variety. PVL01 is performing just as I expected it could, and in some cases, it is exceeding those expectations. I have heard about a lot of Provisia rice yielding in the 41-47 barrels per acre range (6,600-7,600 pounds per acre; 147-169 bushels per acre). On our farm we cut one field of PVL01 that yielded 44 barrels per acre (7,100 pounds per acre; 158 bushels per acre). I looked back at our records and in 2016 we had CL111 in that same field. With all the "weedy rice" pressure, the CL111 yielded 44 barrels per acre. I did not see any yield loss by planting PVL01, and due to the lower seeding rate with PVL01 along with the herbicide cost, I am probably money ahead. Good luck to all the farmers out there trying to finish up harvest, and stay safe.

Michael Fruge 
District Field Representative
(832) 260-6193

North Louisiana and Mississippi

Harvest, overall, is starting slowly in my area. There have been very few fields of the earliest planted rice that have been harvested to date. The majority of the cutting has just been taking samples or harvesting the tops of fields. We received anywhere from 4-9 inches of rain in Mississippi over the weekend through Monday (8/17-8/20), which put the brakes on any progress being made until Wednesday (8/22).
 
I’ve heard of a few yields out of North Louisiana that sound promising, but we’ll know better by next week how the earliest part of the crop in my area is doing. Please feel free to call with any questions or if I can help in any way.

Tim Jett 
District Field Representative
(901) 687-6362