Rice Harvest Report: How It's Going
USA Rice
RICE COUNTRY, USA – Rice harvest is wrapping up in southwest Louisiana and west of Houston in Texas. Ideal weather facilitated a rapid rice harvest in the region, with little or no rainfall interfering with operations since harvest began in mid-July. This is just the opposite of last year, when it seemed to rain every day as soon as combines hit the fields.
Dr. Ronnie Levy, rice specialist with the Louisiana State University AgCenter, estimates harvest at 80 percent completed in southwest Louisiana. Yields are predicted to be average to above average across the region, so it appears that the extended high temperatures as rice matured did not have significant impacts on yields, at least on most of the earlier planted fields.
John Morgan, with Supreme Rice Mill, reported that they took in three times more rice in July than ever before. Morgan also said that as of August 14, Supreme had taken in more green rice than their previous record which included first and second crop.
Some fields harvested in the last few days have shown lower yields, especially medium grains. Milling yields are down significantly in southwest Louisiana, probably due to extended periods with very high nighttime temperatures and the fact that a significant amount of rice was harvested at low harvest moisture because the high temperatures caused it to mature very rapidly in the fields.
Austin Bertrand, with Bertrand Rice, said that his average milling is 51/68 (head/total) on more than 300 samples. This means that after milling 100 pounds of dry rice, there is an average of 51 pounds of whole kernels and 68 pounds of total (whole plus broken grains) white milled rice. This is quite a bit lower than most years. The rapid harvest put a severe strain on the rice drying and transportation infrastructure as well.
A silver lining seems to be that rice drying may be a little less costly than in years past. Several growers have said this is the fastest they’ve dried rice, and with the high temperatures, the need for fuel to fire the burners has been minimal. On the opposite end, keeping up with water for the second crop is becoming an issue, particularly for the southern coastal parishes, where salt water is becoming a factor in some areas.
In Texas, estimates are 75-80 percent harvested west of Houston and 50 percent in the eastern zone. Yields appear to be good in both regions and milling yields, while down, don’t appear to be as impacted as in Louisiana.
Both pureline and hybrid yields are above average, according to Dorsey Jones, with Helena Agri-Enterprises in Raywood. Jones said lack of sufficient dryer availability is leading to 75-80 percent of the rice in his area being trucked west of Houston, which has farmers struggling to find enough trucks to keep combines running full time. West of Houston, while many growers are finished with first crop harvest, much of the hybrid seed and organic production remains in the field.
Up north, harvest is just getting started. Marley Oldham, with Kennedy Rice in Mer Rouge, Louisiana, said maybe 5 percent of his rice is harvested, and it is too early to predict yield and quality. Jarrod Hardke, rice specialist with the University of Arkansas, said essentially the same thing: less than 5 percent is harvested in Arkansas and while it is too early to judge yields, a few early dry yield reports are very good.
Hunter Bowman, Mississippi rice specialist, is not aware of any rice harvested there, but expects some harvesting late this week or early next week. Justin Chlapecka, Missouri rice specialist, says that rice harvest will begin there in about two weeks. California rice harvest will begin in late September or early October. Much of the crop there was planted later than normal because of extended periods of rainfall in the spring that delayed field preparation and planting.