USA Rice
RICE COUNTRY, USA – In the southern U.S. rice growing region, rice planting is close to completion along the Gulf Coast and well underway and progressing further north.
In Texas, State Rice Specialist Sam Rustom estimates that 80 percent of the state’s projected 100,000 acres are currently in the ground. Timothy Gertson, from Lissie, planted his entire crop in five days in mid-March. Terry Hlavinka, from East Bernard, said his crop is also 100 percent planted and emerged, with some fields needing a flush to do so. Daniel Berglund, whose operation is located a little further south, has some pure line seed left to plant after finishing planting all of his RiceTec seed production. All commented that the emerged rice looks very healthy, and while some of the early rice got set back by cool temperatures and winds a couple of weeks ago, it has recovered nicely.
In southwest Louisiana, the crop is essentially planted. Tyler Musgrove, the new rice specialist there, said, “We had dry and warm conditions early which led to a much earlier planting start than usual. Statewide, we reached 85-90 percent during the last week of March. The only rice left to plant is in northeast Louisiana and any crawfish rice in June.” Musgrove is estimating a total of 420,000 acres planted this year in the state.
Paul Zaunbrecher in Rayne, Eric Unkel in Kinder, Kane Fontenot in Mamou, and John McLain in Abbeville, all completed planting well within the recommended date window, with Fontenot stating that his March 3 start was the earliest ever for him. All commented that the rice looks very good at this point.
In central Louisiana, Logan Lemoine planted his 1,040 acres of drilled rice between March 19-27 and had to flush it because of dry conditions. In north Louisiana, Marley Oldham, with Kennedy Rice, said very little is planted among his customers, while Jason Waller near Mer Rouge said his area is probably 50 percent planted although he has not started yet. Dillon Berglund in Richland Parish has the drill hooked up to the tractor, everything is calibrated, and seed is in the tender. He’s just waiting for dry ground to plant.
In Arkansas, Rice Specialist Jarrod Hardke estimates that 10-15 percent has been planted state-wide at this point. Efforts and intentions have been slow amid the drought conditions. Rain throughout the delta over the weekend will lead to the pace picking up this week. “Plenty of rice that was already planted really needed that rain to germinate or break through dry soil for emergence. It looks good now,” Hardke said. He estimated that 850,000 acres of rice will be planted in Arkansas this year.
Near England, Dow Brantley is 50 percent planted into dry soil and even after a one-inch rain over Easter weekend, his operation will begin flushing fields. Mark Isbell and Jeremy Jones at Isbell Farms are 40 percent planted and will need to flush most fields as well. Near Stuttgart, Clint Roth is 80 percent planted, Dee Dickson about 50 percent, and Sydney Robnett about 60 percent. They all agreed that the Easter weekend rain was well needed, but many fields will soon also need a flush. Challenges noted in Arkansas are the ongoing drought, which has resulted in some reservoirs with low water capacity.
Mississippi Rice Specialist Will Eubank estimates that his state will only plant about 60,000 acres of rice this year based on conversations with seed suppliers and consultants. “Once fields dried on March 20, planters moved quickly and stayed busy. Most of the crop has yet to emerge, though a few early‑planted fields have reached the 1‑ to 2‑leaf stage. The stretch of cooler temperatures we’ve had has certainly slowed emergence and early growth.”
Kirk Satterfield and Austin Davis farm near each other in Longshot, and have completed their rice planting, as have most of their neighbors. Satterfield said, “I am really thankful for that Easter rain. It helped out a lot of things.” Davis added, “Unseasonably dry weather is beginning to become an issue, as we may have to flush soon, if no rain. The rice on our farm is just now spiking.” Amy McArthur, near Sledge, said, “We are 100 percent planted with a very favorable spring so far. In spite of below average rainfall, our rice is 100 percent emerged.”
In Missouri, the consensus is that about 180,000 acres of rice will be planted in the Bootheel. Rance Daniels and Zach Worrell, who both plant near Hornersville, agreed that rice planting in that area has started, but slowly, with about 15 percent of acreage completed.
Daniels said, “Thankfully we got between 1.5 and 2 inches of rain over the weekend, which will aid in emergence and activate residual herbicides. Planting will start in earnest when it dries up later this week.”
Missouri farmer Zach Tanner reported that Stoddard, Butler, and north Dunklin counties have had a strong early start to the 2026 rice crop. “Many of our customers as well as our farm are 50-75 percent planted. We were very dry and desperately needing moisture which we got when it rained about an inch on Saturday. Our earliest planted rice has a good stand and the latest has sprouted.”
Out west in California, early progress is being made in the rice region. Rice Specialist Bruce Linquist said, “California experienced a very warm March and no rain. This allowed a good number of growers to get an early start on land preparation. It would not surprise me to see some growers beginning to plant in the next week or so.” Josh Sheppard, near Richvale, said, “We began tillage 10 days ago and are further along with spring planting activities than anyone can ever recall for the first week of April.”
Derek Sohnrey, another Butte County producer, is early as well. “We are finishing up our first pass now. Hopefully we will be starting to plant some fields the week of April 20.” Brian McKenzie, north of Sacramento, made a similar observation, noting that “We wouldn’t like to have any fields seeded before April 20 this year. If we do seed then, we’d be about five days earlier than we have ever been.”
Kim Gallagher, in Irrigation District 108, said, “We started opening ground mid-March, which is two weeks earlier than normal. Most of my neighbors have all started also, even on the heaviest clay. The forecast looks favorable, even with a little rain last week and a small chance this week. I would expect lots of April planting dates this year.”
Tom Butler, near Robbins, said, “We’ve had a great start to groundwork. I personally will start applying aqua shortly with water coming on as soon as the end of the week.” Alec Magenheimer, near Yuba City, is planning to plant some short grain rice by the end of the week.
In Florida, acreage will be down significantly, but planting is progressing. Daniel Cavazos, with Florida Crystals, said, “Here in South Florida, we are down more than 30 percent in planned planted acres with only 13 being planted for Florida Crystals. Outside growers have been limited to 4,000 acres. We started planting on February 18 and are at 70 percent so far, with plans to have everything in the ground by late April. Everything we have planted to date has germinated well and most of the early planted organics have an established flood.”
Research plantings throughout the mid-South are well underway. According to Sam Rustom, research plot planting is happening at both the Beaumont and Eagle Lake locations in Texas. Manoch Kongchum, Adam Famoso, and Jacob Fluitt agreed that most plots are planted and looking good at the Rice Research Station in Crowley and only a couple of north Louisiana locations remain to be planted. In Mississippi, Will Eubank has two planting date trials planted, with the first in early March. In Arkansas, Jarrod Hardke and Xueyan Sha report that research planting is at around 20-25 percent completed to date. Jarrod said, “Emergence has occurred for rice planted on March 19 and 20. That rice looks excellent after the recent rain.” Mike Johnson, at the Missouri Rice Research Farm, indicated that about 40 percent of the research trials there have been planted.