AgFax: Rice Report
By Owen Taylor
AgFax
OVERVIEW
Rice planting hasn't quite wrapped up in the Midsouth, but part of the remaining acres may never make it out of the sack. Sporadic rain has kept farmers out of the field, especially in the upper Delta. Soils remain wet, especially the heavy clays, and in a few places those fields are still rutted from wet harvest conditions in 2019.
How much rice farmers finally plant in the Delta partly depends on how far into June they are willing to plant. A drier weather pattern is taking shape, which could open the way for more planting next week. A few growers have resorted to broadcasting seed in areas of Arkansas where drills can't run this week. See comments by Jarrod Hardke.
Frustration abounds, especially since rice seems to offer a better return than the other commodity crops grown in the region.
A limited amount of Delta rice has gone to flood but more pumps will be running next week.
Heading is underway in the very earliest rice in southwest Louisiana. At least some heads will likely emerge in Texas next week.
Hail hit parts of southwest Louisiana early this week, inflicting varying degrees of damage on the rice crop. See comments by Dustin Harrell.
Keith Collins, Extension Agent, Richland, Ouachita and Franklin Parishes, Rayville, Louisiana
"We've mostly finished planting rice. Growers have been trying to plant between rains, but rains also help to reduce flushings to achieve stands
"A few fields have gone to flood with more to follow soon. The earliest rice I know about was row rice that went in a little over four weeks ago.
"Rice acreage will increase in the parishes I work. Across all the commodity crops we grow, it was the only bright spot in terms of price stability and what the market offered. Row rice acreage has increased significantly, too. Among farmers who went into prevented planting with corn, some of that land may go into rice.
"This has been a wet year overall and more challenging than the last two years when we also had too much rain and tough planting conditions. Compared to 2018 and 2019, this year's planting season has maybe been a little wetter. The storms also have come through more often, so we never had long breaks to catch up.
"Some soybean planting started in early April in my parishes, and we're still trying to finish. Maybe 80% to 85% has been planted. The forecast says we'll move into a little dry spell. If so, we will finish beans then."
Dustin Harrell, Louisiana Rice Extension Specialist, LSU Rice Research Station, Crowley
"This week, we went through a significant hail storm in part of southwest Louisiana, and it was the first major weather event that potentially will cause some yield loss this year. The hail fell early this week in an area roughly between Fenton and Mowata. That area is basically along the Highway 190 corridor.
"It beat up the rice pretty badly in places. The effect on yield mostly depends on the stage of the crop in a given field.
"The hail knocked off all the leaves on some very young rice, but the crown is still alive, and those plants will recover pretty quickly. With rice at green ring to P.D., the hail mostly hit the leaves but didn't break the growing point to any extent. In that case, the damage will set back the plants a bit, but they should be okay, and we'll manage them as usual.
"But where rice was in boot, we can expect yield loss if hail broke that panicle or the growing point.
"Most of our rice this week is at PD, and I'm receiving the first reports of rice heading. With that, we need to concentrate on disease prevention. Sheath blight has shown up in places, which isn't surprising now that rice is in the reproductive stage and with all the wet weather in recent weeks.
"If the forecast holds, a drier weather trend is coming, which should help with potential disease development. I'm seeing some zinc deficiency. Also, stress due to herbicide damage has kept some fields from responding to nitrogen applications. But the bulk of this week's calls, as you might imagine, have been about hail damage.
"With a portion of this early-planted rice, harvest could start in mid-July or maybe earlier. I thought that the earlier stretch of cold weather would have slowed plant development. But people are reporting rice heading now, and that's pretty early."