Rice Farming March 2019

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ONE GROWER PUBLISHING, LLC

PROFITABLE PRODUCTION STRATEGIES

MARCH 2019

The name says it all Farmers Brewing founder grows ingredients, brews beer on farm

ALSO INSIDE

Horizon Ag, University of Arkansas jointly launch 2 Clearfield varieties

Consider a seed treatment to increase stand, seedling vigor

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March 2018 2019

COLUMNS

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Vol. 52, 53, No. 4

COVER STORY

4 From the Editor

Rice's Get ready longfor history a robot bucks invasionhot 'what's in rice in food' fieldstrends

5 Guest USA Rice Update 6 Column

New tool sustainability helps farmers make Rice and conservation connections

8 USA Rice Update D PARTMENTS RiceE industry sets priorities for the next Farm Bill 12 Industry News Rice business scene

The name Here to stay? says it all

DEPARTMENTS 18 Specialist Speaking 19 Industry Consider a seedNews treatment Rice business scene to increase stand, boost seedling vigor

20 Specialist Speaking

Early herbicide mistakes can COVER California producer plaguePHOTO: you all season long

and Farmers Brewing founder Bill Weller grows the rice and wheat he uses to brew craft beer on his ON THE COVER:farm.

Armyworms once Priniceton-area again plagued California rice growers Photo in 2017.by Vicky Boyd

F E AT U R E S F E AT U R E S 9 The yin and yang Shorterreport supplieslimits have shorn uphopes the 6 USDA pricing

market, but increased 2018 planting Without a major unforeseeable event, projections cloudwill long-term outlook.

2019 crop prices continue to stagnate due to high stocks

14 16

Floods aid expansion New kids on snail the block Giant invasive threatens the

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New tools in the tool box

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TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

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14 16

Several new crop-protection products are available in time for this year’s rice season.

Look for the Soybean South supplement following page 12 in the Arkansas, FEBRUARY

Stay up-to-date with the latest from Rice Farming.

Follow us on Twitter: @RiceFarming

Horizon Ag, University Arkansas join rice-crawfish rotation inofsouthwest to introduce two Clearfield varieties Louisiana.

GROWER ONE LLC PUBLISHING,

GET CONNECTED www.facebook.com/ ricefarming1

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The California rice industry prepares for what may become annual armyworm infestations.

California rice producer and Farmers Brewing founder grows ingredients, brews craft beer on his farm

Photo by Luis Espino, University of California Cooperative Extension

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al Goneapprovir ach enlists

2019

Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas versions of Rice Farming.

The smell of success

Targeted l corn virus to contro ans soybe earworm in

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University of Arkansas breeding program releases new jasmine-type long grain.

In case you missed it

Richard Costello of Oak Grove, Louisiana, was recently recognized

Farm & Gin Show recap as the 2018 Rice Consultant of the Year at a reception in

Tennessee. Visit the Rice Farming Facebook page at Tight world rice suppliesMemphis, mean any www.facebook.com/pg/RiceFarming1/photos/ to view the disruption could push markets higher.

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2018 Rice Consultant of the Year photo album.

MARCH 2018 2019

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From The

Editor

Get ready for a robot invasion in rice fields The folks behind Harvest CROO, a robotic strawberry harvester nearing commercialization, recently sent a press release about how the automated machine can pick at least 20 hours per day, including weekends, and harvest 95 percent of the fruit off a plant.

One of the masterminds behind the machine is Florida strawberry grower Gary Wishnatzki, who was having a tough time finding harvest crews and only saw the problem getting worse.

Unlike rice, which is cut once or maybe twice, strawberries are picked every day to two days and only ripe ones are selected. The season also runs for months, requiring hundreds of workers Vicky Boyd for large operations.

Editor During the 2018 rice harvest, I rode in a combine in South Louisiana that had hands-free steering. The only time the grower touched the steering wheel was to go around a small rut or to turn the machine around at the end of the turn-row.

At the same time, Google, Uber and a few other firms are developing self-driving cars. As part of their testing, people pose as pedestrians to see how the vehicles would avoid running over them. Combine drivers don’t face nearly the obstacles, except for the occasional skunk, raccoon or gator sauntering across a field or a power pole on the side.

Simple obstacle-avoidance technology already is available to the general public as part of the robotic vacuum, Roomba. The circular machine, which retails for less than $300, can detect table legs, chairs, walls and even stairs and avoid crashing into them as it vacuums a carpet.

Last year, I also watched Drone Deploy, a software program for drones, fly a field without a pilot at the controls because the user had previously entered GPS coordinates for the field boundaries.

When you factor in the complexities of a robotic strawberry harvester with combines’ existing hands-free technology, Roomba’s obstacle avoidance and Drone Deploy’s auto-fly, manufacturers already have the know-how to develop truly robotic rice harvesters. The question then becomes, will growers pay for a machine that only displaces a few workers?

To answer that, one has only to look at the cotton industry and its quick adoption of the round-bale picker. No longer does the picker driver need to stop to empty the full basket into a boll buggy and have a worker drive the buggy to a nearby module builder. Cotton farmers also don’t need crews to run module builders.

As finding and keeping reliable employees becomes tougher and more costly, the demand for robotic rice combines will only become greater. We may not be there quite yet, but the day is coming that combines will drive themselves.

Vicky Send comments to: Editor, Rice Farming Magazine, 875 W. Poplar Ave., Suite 23, Box 305, Collierville, TN 38017 or email vlboyd@onegrower.com.

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MARCH 2019

RiceFaRming EDITORIAL/PRODUCTION Editor Vicky Boyd 209-505-3612 vlboyd@onegrower.com Copy Editor Amanda Huber ahuber@onegrower.com Art Director Ashley Kumpe akumpe@onegrower.com

ADMINISTRATION Publisher/Vice President Lia Guthrie 901-497-3689 lguthrie@onegrower.com Associate Publisher Carroll Smith 901-326-4443 csmith@onegrower.com Sales Manager Scott Emerson 386-462-1532 semerson@onegrower.com Circulation Manager Charlie Beek 847-559-7324 Production Manager Kathy Killingsworth 901-767-4020 kkillingsworth@onegrower.com For circulation changes or change of address, call 847-559-7578

ONE GROWER PUBLISHING, LLC Mike Lamensdorf President/Treasurer Lia Guthrie Publisher/Vice President ASSOCIATED PUBLICATIONS — One Grower Publishing LLC also publishes COTTON FARMING, THE PEANUT GROWER, SOYBEAN SOUTH and CORN SOUTH magazines.

RICE FARMING (ISSN 0194- 0929) is published monthly January through May, and December, by One Grower Publishing LLC, 875 W. Poplar Ave., Suite 23, Box 305, Collierville, TN 38017. Periodicals postage paid at Memphis, TN. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to OMEDA COMMUNICATIONS, CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT, P.O. BOX 1388, NORTHBROOK, IL 60065-1388. Annual subscriptions are $25.00. International rates are $55.00 Canada/ Mexico, $90.00 all other countries for Air-Speeded Delivery. (Surface delivery not available due to problems in reliability.) $5.00 single copy.

All statements, including product claims, are those of the person or organization making the statement or claim. The publisher does not adopt any such statement or claims as its own and any such statement or claim does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher. RICE FARMING is a registered trademark of One Grower Publishing LLC, which reserves all rights granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in association with its registration.

© Copyright 2019

One Grower Publishing, LLC 875 W. Poplar Ave., Suite 23, Box 305, Collierville, TN 38017 Phone: 901-767-4020

RICEFARMING.COM

USA Rice

Update

New tool helps farmers connect with conservation programs

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By Betsy Ward President and CEO USA Rice

USA Rice’s new search tool helps growers find programs that offer financial incentives for providing wildlife habitat.

COURTESY NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE

TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

armers know more than anyone the importance of good tools. To get the job done, you need the right tools, and if you don’t have them, the work will be harder, take longer and won’t yield the same results.

We at USA Rice understand all too well how low farm-gate prices, rising input costs and our country’s many trade disputes are taking their toll on the rice community. As one grower recently remarked to me, “If something doesn’t change quick, there may be a lot fewer of us around this table next year.”

Because we are committed to help the rice industry stay profitable, we set out to create a new tool for farmers to help you find a match. It’s kind of like a dating app – but instead of connecting you with potential spouses, this connects you with conservation programs.

These programs, both public and private, are an excellent way to offset your costs.

Whether via financial assistance or technology, they provide resources that can significantly reduce your bottom line.

But the process of finding and enrolling in conservation programs is not always so simple. There are a lot of resources out there to take advantage of that many farmers might not know about.

As easy as a Google search That’s why I’m so excited about USA Rice’s new Conservation Program Search tool. With the new season upon us, you’re making scores of decisions for your farm every day, and this search tool makes the process of finding and implementing conservation programs that provide assistance to your operation as quick and easy as a Google search.

Simply by visiting the USA Rice website, users can search for programs by state, program type, topic, funding authority or keyword to determine the conservation program that’s the best fit for their farm. The options for program assistance available to farmers are wide ranging, including soil management practices like crop rotation, cover crops or no-till systems; providing habitat for wildlife, such as migratory birds; upgrades to irrigation, wells, pumps and sprinklers to streamline water use; and reducing overall on-farm energy use with alternative energy sources, fuel efficiency and emissions reductions.

Test drive the conservation search tool This landmark resource is the result of countless hours of research and design, and I couldn’t be prouder of the hard work the USA Rice team put in to make these many program options easily accessible to rice growers. Never before have these resources been so centralized, and we owe thanks to Ducks Unlimited and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service for helping make it all possible.

I often speak about the pride the rice industry takes in our conservation efforts and sustainability record. These programs are another way for growers to further those efforts, and to be recognized and compensated for them.

I encourage every grower to explore what the Conservation Program Search has to offer today. It’s a fantastic tool to add to your arsenal as you continue to lead the industry in sustainability, and I hope you take advantage of it.

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Large rice stocks continue to weigh heavily on the market, prices

By Kurt Guidry

Ballooning ending stocks The result is a ballooning ending stocks value that is more than 70 percent higher than the previous year and more than 12 percent higher than the 2016/17 marketing year. Ending stocks for long grain are now estimated at 34.8 million cwt for the 2018/19 marketing year.

Since the 1982/83 marketing year, long-grain ending stocks have only been above 30 million cwt six times or only about 16 percent of the time. In those years, the marketing year prices averaged in the low $9 cwt (mid $14 per barrel) range. While past history doesn’t always highlight the potential path of prices moving forward, it does show the type of supply and demand environment that this long-grain market faces heading into the 2019 growing season.

Before the February report, there was some hope that the stronger demand seen in the first half of the 2018/19 marketing year might help stabilize prices and push them moderately higher.

Export sales were running roughly 6 percent ahead of last year’s pace, and Iraqi purchases brought hope for increased business with that country. While the USDA did seem to reinforce the stronger demand by increasing both export and domestic use expectations, the large increase in supplies has likely limited the market’s ability to push prices significantly higher.

So now, the market must focus on the 2019 planting and growing season to see if there is anything to warrant higher prices. Early projections suggested 2019 planted acres to be steady to slightly lower. Reports at the end of 2018 suggested Arkansas could reduce plantings by 120,000 to 150,000 acres. Other rice-producing states

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VICKY BOYD

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he rice market has been quiet over the past couple of months with cash prices moving in a fairly narrow range. Some of this lackluster activity has been the normal seasonal slowdown typical of the holidays and the start of the new calendar year.

But some of the quietness has been due to a lack fundamental supply and demand information as U.S. Department of Agriculture reports were delayed with the government shutdown.

In early February, the USDA released its first supply and demand report of the 2019 calendar year. For rice, the report only added to the supply and demand dynamics that have weighed heavily on the market for much of the marketing year.

Although the report made some minor changes to the mediumand short-grain balance sheets, the most significant changes were made to the long-grain supply and demand picture. Increases in the estimates for both harvested acres and yield resulted in a 3.5 percent increase in total long-grain production from the December report.

The current estimate for 2018 long-grain rice production stands at more than 28 percent higher than the previous year. While the USDA also increased total long-grain use in the latest report, the current estimate is only about 7 percent higher than the previous year.

Given the wet fall and winter, a continuation of those conditons could affect land preparation and eventually planting intentions.

suggested acres to be relatively stable for 2019.

Despite the difficult supply and demand situation faced by the long-grain market, a lack of significantly more attractive alternatives will likely seem to limit the shift of rice acres to some other commodity in 2019. One thing to keep an eye on is weather conditions over the next several weeks.

Given the wet fall and winter experienced by most rice-producing states, a continuation of those conditions could affect land preparation and eventually lead to adjustments in planting intentions.

USDA report limits pricing hopes Current cash prices for rice are reported in the $17 to $18 per-barrel ($10.50 to $11.10 cwt) range. Although there was some hope prices could move to the $19 to $20 per-barrel range, this latest USDA report probably limits that ability.

A longer-term price outlook will likely depend on how much of the 34.8 million cwt ending stocks can be whittled away during the 2019/20 marketing year. With a 200,000 acre reduction and assuming trend line yields and constant demand from the 2018/19 marketing year, ending stocks for the 2019/20 marketing year would still be projected at more than 30 million cwt.

To get ending stocks back to more manageable levels, the market would need either a much larger reduction in supplies through either lower acres or yields or higher-than-expected demand. Even if you assume demand for the 2019/20 marketing year would be at the highest levels over the past 10 years along with 200,000 fewer acres, ending stocks are likely to fall only to the low to mid-20 million cwt level. Unless a major unforeseeable event happens, it appears that prices for the 2019 crop will likely remain in the $17 to $19 per-barrel (10.50 to $11.72 cwt) range.

Dr. Kurt Guidry is Southwest Region director and Extension economist with the Louisiana State University AgCenter in Crowley. He may be reached at KMGuidry@agcenter.lsu.edu.

RICEFARMING.COM

Weed Control Options In Conventional Rice Winston Earnheart, Ph. D. Earnheart Agricultural Consultant Service Tunica, Mississippi The 2018 Mississippi rice season was tough, but we ended up with decent yields in most fields. Delays in application timing and levee preparation along with herbicide resistance and hot, dry conditions in May challenged weed control programs. Early planted rice was the easiest to manage. We got good stands, and the herbicides performed well in the wetter, cooler environment.

Fall and winter rains resulted in ruts in many late-harvested fields and delayed fieldwork, which will have to be done this spring. Because they now have larger equipment, growers still should be able to get their rice crop in the ground during April and most of May — our typical planting window. We have been meeting with our farmers to help them make decisions about rice varieties, pesticides and fertilization and monitoring winter weed populations to determine if burndown herbicide applications are needed.

• B.S., agronomy, Mississippi State University; M.S. and Ph.D., biology, University of Mississippi • Has consulted independently for 46 years on rice, cotton, corn, soybeans, peanuts, pecans and wheat. Farmed for 25 years • Past president of the Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association (MACA) • Taught at Tunica Academy in the off-season for 10 years. College professor of natural sciences at Crichton College for two years, followed by two years at Victory University

Strategies To Eliminate Troublesome Weeds

• First Baptist Church of Tunica choir director for 35 years

Major grass weeds include barnyardgrass, broadleaf signal grass and sprangletop. We also have problems with herbicide-resistant annual flat sedge and yellow nut sedge. Broadleaf weeds include coffeebean, joint vetch, morningglory, eclipta and pigweed. Our weed control efforts begin with either tillage or a herbicide application at planting to start weedfree. Pre-emerge options include a tankmix of Roundup for burndown and Command. We often add Sharpen herbicide to help with burndown and provide residual control of broadleaves and sedges.

If weeds are present in a conventional field when the rice crop emerges, we apply Clincher SF, Facet or Bolero herbicide tankmixed with Prowl, depending on the weed spectrum. This regimen is followed by preflood fertilizer and herbicide applications at the four-leaf rice stage. In conventional rice, tankmix choices include Regiment and Facet, RiceStar and Facet, propanil and Facet or Bolero, or RebelEX — a premix of Grasp SC and Clincher SF. For best results, we get the flood on as soon as we can.

In addition to providing other services, we check fields weekly or biweekly to monitor pest populations and make pesticide recommendations at economic threshold. As independent crop consultants, we try to make unbiased product recommendations to improve our growers’ bottom line. We attend meetings in the off-season to learn about research efforts and talk to other consultants about what is working for them. With improved genetics, technology, pest management, fertility efforts, equipment and irrigation, the upward movement of yields should continue.

In my opinion, the short-term challenges we face today are typically short-lived. My hope is the tariff wars will soon be over, and world trade can thrive.

• Married to Pat. Six grown children and three grandchildren • Enjoys church life, family life, hunting, fishing and playing guitar

Recap: Weed Control In Conventional Rice

t

1. Early planted rice was the easiest to manage in 2018. We got good stands, and the herbicides performed well in the wetter, cooler environment.

2. Weed control efforts typically begin with either tillage or a herbicide application at planting. Pre-emerge options include a tankmix of Roundup for burndown and Command. We often add Sharpen herbicide to help with burndown and provide residual control of broadleaves and sedges.

3. If weeds are present in a conventional field when the rice crop emerges, we apply Clincher SF, Facet or Bolero herbicide tankmixed with Prowl, depending on the weed spectrum.

4. This regimen is followed by a preflood application at the fourleaf rice stage. In conventional rice, tankmix choices include Regiment and Facet, RiceStar and Facet, propanil and Facet or Bolero, or RebelEX — a premix of Grasp SC and Clincher SF. For best results, we get the flood on as soon as we can.

Sponsored by

™® The Corteva Agriscience Logo, Clincher, Grasp, Loyant, RebelEX and Rinskor are trademarks of Dow AgroSciences, DuPont or Pioneer, and their affiliated companies or their respective owners. Clincher SF, Grasp SC, Loyant, RebelEX and Rinskor are not registered for sale or use in all states. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your state.

Always read and follow label directions. ©2019 Dow AgroSciences LLC

PHOTOS BY VICKY BOYD

COVER STORY

Bill Weller, far left, jumped at the chance to buy a 40-barrel brewhouse in Phoenix. The equipment, which he moved to his farm, awaits installation in his brewery currently under construction. Joining him (from right) are wife Kristin, son Ryan and daughter Lauren.

The name says it all California rice producer and Farmers Brewing founder grows ingredients, brews craft beer on his farm

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By Vicky Boyd Editor

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ill Weller’s dream of becoming a vertically integrated rice producer and commercial craft brewer are finally coming to fruition after lengthy permitting and weather delays.

“I always wanted to do this, but we’ve been busy growing the farm over the past 22 years,” says Weller, a fifth-generation farmer who grows rice, wheat, almonds and walnuts with his brother near Princeton, California.

About eight years ago, he started brewing beer at home, and one thing led to another. If all goes according to the latest schedule, he will open the 40-barrel Farmers Brewing brewery

later this summer on his Princeton farm.

Although wife Kristin says she was a bit hesitant at first, she and their two children are 100 percent behind Bill.

“I asked him, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’” It’s a dream of his, and we fully support him,” she says. “It’s turning into a fun family business.”

Many of the visuals tied to his brand and even the operation’s name itself are nods to his agricultural roots.

The Farmers Brewing logo, for example, comes from an old manual drill press Weller used to play with as a kid.

Weller likes to refer to his craft brewing endeavor as “farm to glass,” since he grows the RICEFARMING.COM

rice and wheat that goes into the beer. In the future, he also plans to produce other ingredients, such as barley and hops.

Vertical integration Neither the national Brewers Association nor the California Craft Brewers Association track the field-to-glass, also referred to as the farm-to-glass, category.

But California association Managing Director Leia Ostermann Bailey did write in an email, “The drive to source local and drink local beer has certainly increased in conversations and marketing throughout the last several years.”

Ron Silberstein, owner of Admiral Maltings in Alameda, California, agrees, saying he has seen that sector grow.

“The farm to glass is a significant part of the industry — it’s not a fringe,” he says. “But it’s not competing with domestic beer sales or craft beer sales, either.”

Admiral Maltings partners with California grain producers, and Silbertstein says many of his company’s 200 malt customers are increasingly paying attention to ingredients and local sources.

“I think a lot of people are using our malt because of that connection with the farmer,” he says. “I think there’s a segment that people are paying attention to — the provence of what the ingredients are.”

A handful of malting companies nationwide — such as Colorado Malting Co. of Alamosa, Colorado; Roots and Shoots of Loveland, Colorado; and Mecca Grade of Madras, Oregon — were actually started by farmers who wanted to add value to their grains, Silbertsein says.

Brewery offerings Currently, Farmers Brewing has year-round offerings that include 530, an unfiltered wheat beer that plays up his area code; Daughter’s Wit, a Belgian-style wheat beer with a pink hue; Rattle Can American, An American amber ale; Farmer’s Light, a 99-calorie lager; Granjero, a Spanish ale; Valle, a Mexican lager whose name was thought up by the farm employees; and Stubborn Mule.

All were developed by Weller through a lot of trial and error, “especially with the rice because there’s just not a lot of information out there about brewing with rice,” he says. “I find there’s such an advantage to using it, plus we grow rice.”

The rice imparts a clean, crisp flavor that complements some of the other flavors he uses, like the lime zest in his Granjero ale or malted barley.

But it also means the brewer can’t make any mistakes because they’ll stand out to the consumer.

Weller says he probably made 50 trial batches of Farmer’s Light before he was satisfied with the recipe.

In addition, he plans to have four seasonal series — Harvest, Migration, Planting and Summer Kickback — that will rotate.

As with his mainstay beers, each series has a story behind it.

TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

Proudly made with rice Ask Weller about the rice content of his individual beers, and he’s quick to respond. The Farmer’s Light, for example, contains more than 50 percent rice.

Rattle Can Red is made “I asked him, ‘Are with 20 percent rice. you sure you want And Stubborn Mule, a gluten-free carbonated to do this?’ It’s a alcoholic beverage fladream of his, and vored with ginger and we fully support lime and reminiscent of a Moscow Mule cocktail, him. It’s turning is made with 100 percent into a fun family rice.

The rice used in the business.” beer is 100 percent California medium grain. What will make or break the beverage is the milling, Wellers says.

He only uses Musenmai or “no-wash” rice that has undergone polishing after milling to remove any left-over bran that sticks to the kernels. The fat in the bran can create undesirable off-flavors during fermentation.

For his Daughter’s Wit and 530, he uses barley and the low-protein soft white winter wheat grown in adjacent fields in addition his own medium-grain rice.

A brewery to ‘grow into’ Currently, Weller has a small set-up in a refurbished building on their farm where he can brew slightly more than one 31-gallon barrel at a time. That beer is distributed in 1/6- and 1/2-barrel kegs to area restaurants and bars.

Garth Archibald recently joined Farmers Brewing to handle sales as the facility ramps up production. Weller also is in the process of hiring a brewmaster to oversee beer production.

His original plan was to scale up to a seven-barrel facility. But when he found a 40-barrel brewhouse in Phoenix, Arizona, for sale, he jumped at the chance.

The brewhouse, fermenters and 23 tanks had been unattended for several years and had become the victims of metal thieves, who stole several of the copper fittings.

Nevertheless, Weller hauled them to his farm in July 2017, where they were refurbished. He also has picked up other equipMARCH 2019

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PHOTOS BY VICKY BOYD

Garth Archibald, right, joined Bill Weller and Farmers Brewing to market the craft beer as the operation ramps up production. }

ment from other breweries and boasts he has components from five brewing operations.

Squeezed in his equipment sheds among typical farm implements and four-wheelers are pieces of the equipment, such as a centrifuge used to clarify the beverage and remove solids after fermentation.

Weller jokes that he’s over-building his facility, but he couldn’t pass up the deal on the stainless steel tanks.

“Everybody I talked to said, ‘Man, I wished we would have started bigger,’” he says. “With me, I’m going to try to grow into this facility.”

Licensing and regulations Even before he began distributing beer from his small brewery, Weller had to obtain beer manufacturing and distribution licenses from the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control.

He also had to have his labels approved by the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

Weller says he had hoped to be operational by now, but permitting – both on a state and local level — delayed construction.

“You know California — it’s brutal,” he says.

Take the wastewater that will be generated during the brewing process and maintenance. Weller had to obtain a wastewater discharge waiver.

As part of the application, he had to develop a plan that detailed how he would collect and store it in a large tank, then use it to irrigate adjacent cropland.

Weller received his last permit in November 2018. By the end of January, crews were pouring the concrete foundation. But continuing winter rains likely will slow construction and push

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Farmers Brewing has become a family endeavor, with wife Kristin handling online merchandising. Daughter Lauren is the namesake behind Daughter’s Wit, and son Ryan is quick to hand out promotional items.

back completion until early this summer, he says.

Further down the road are plans to install a small canning line and open a tasting room in the brewery.

RICEFARMING.COM

VICKY BOYD

Wet winter delays field prep, making early rice planting in Arkansas less likely

C

ontinuously wet conditions further delayed field preparation throughout much of Arkansas this week, as intermittent rains continue to saturate soils in the state.

At production meetings organized by the University of Arkansas in January and February, both growers and agronomists noted the delay in field preparation for the 2019 planting season.

Jarrod Hardke, rice agronomist for the Division of Agriculture, says it appears increasingly unlikely that any growers in the state will be able to plant rice on March 15, typically the start of the early planting season.

“Assuming it ever stops raining, you’re looking at seven to 10 days of dry weather before you can get a tractor out in a field,” Hardke says. “Seventy percent of rice acres in this state are rotated with soybeans, and the vast majority of those soybean fields haven’t been worked in any manner.”

On Feb. 22, the National Weather service issued flash flood watches and warnings for more than 30 counties in the southeastern third of the state from Chicot to Pulaski counties and as far north as Mississippi County.

Major tillage needed Many growers will need to till their fields to a significantly greater degree than in typical years, Hardke says, due to widespread rutting caused by the 2018 harvest.

“We’re not talking about standard tillage,” he says. “This will require excessive tillage.”

According to data from the National Weather Service’s Little Rock station, every county in the southeastern half of Arkansas TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

received 30-50 inches of rain between Aug. 22, 2018, and Feb. 22, 2019. The measured rainfall ranged from 110 to 200 percent of typical rainfall within the same six-month period.

In addition, many fields in the state likely still require fertilization.

Soil testing, which growers use to determine the nutrient needs of a field, typically precedes fertilization. Linda Moore, a technician with the University of Arkansas Soil Testing Laboratory in Marianna, says the laboratory had received about 13,800 soil samples from agricultural plots around the state from Jan. 22-Feb. 22. That compares to a norm closer to 18,500 samples during the same period.

Saturated fields Robert Goodson, Phillips County Extension agent, says most fields in his county are saturated, although water was draining well as of Feb. 22, but “that has the possibility of changing.”

“The Mississippi River is at 43.8 feet, with a flood stage of 44,” Goodson says. The river was predicted to crest at 47.5 feet on March 5.

Other rivers in the state are also at or near flood stage. Data from the National Weather Service show the Black River, measured at Corning in Clay County, at about 12 feet as of Feb. 22.

Flood stage at that location is 15 feet.

In Patterson, the Cache River, which floods at 9 feet, was also recorded at 12 feet. In White County, the White River was measured at Georgetown at 24.6 feet, more than 4 feet above flood stage.

The University of Arkansas contributed this article.

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News

BRUCE SCHULTZ/LSU AGCENTER

Industry

The Louisiana Rice Research Board presented a $1 million check to fund an academic chair for rice research in the LSU AgCenter.

Shown left to right are Dane Hebert, LRRB vice chairman; Brian Wild, former LRRB member; Mike Strain, commissioner of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry and LRRB ex officio member; Donald Berken, former LRRB member; Damian Bollich, LRRB member; Ronald Sonnier, former LRRB member; Mike Fruge, former LRRB member; Alan Lawson, LRRB member; Jeffrey Sylvester, LRRB member; Bill Richardson, LSU vice president for agriculture; Rogers Leonard, LSU AgCenter associate vice president; Fred Zaunbrecher, former LRRB member; Jackie Loewer, former LRRB chairman; Clarence Berken, former LRRB vice chairman; John Denison, former LRRB chairman; Richard Fontenot, LRRB chairman; John Denison Jr., LRRB secretary-treasurer; and Steve Linscombe, former director of the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station.

The Louisiana Rice Research Board recently gave $1 million to fund an academic chair dedicated to rice research within the Louisiana State University AgCenter.

The board has pledged to provide an additional $500,000 later this year for the Louisiana Rice Research Board Chair for Excellence in Rice Research with the hope of more allocations in the next few years to grow the chair over time.

The money is coming from funds obtained through the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. Interest from the funds is dedicated solely for research purposes.

Board chairman Richard Fontenot says planning for the chair began in 2015.

“The research that has come out of the LSU AgCenter over the years has certainly helped the Louisiana rice industry, but it has also supported and fed the world,” Fontenot said in a university news release.

“This endowment has been in the works for a long time, and now that it is official, I feel good knowing the rice industry will continue to benefit from world-class research that will come out of LSU thanks

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to this strengthened research program.”

Rogers Leonard, LSU AgCenter associate vice president, says the chair will provide a reliable funding source for research.

“This perpetual funding source will help make sure that the LSU AgCenter’s world-class rice research will continue uninterrupted,” Leonard says.

BRUCE SCHULTZ, LSU AGCENTER

Louisiana Rice Research Board gives $1 million to fund research chair

Rice leader among four named to Louisiana Ag Hall of Distinction

Four Louisiana agricultural leaders, including a rice pioneer, were inducted into the Louisiana Agriculture Hall of Distinction during March ceremonies.

This year’s inductees are Grady Coburn, Jack Hamilton, George LaCour and Linda Zaunbrecher.

A native of Gueydan, Zaunbrecher is only the second woman to enter the Ag Hall of Distinction. Her career is distinguished by her pioneering work in increasing leadership opportunities for women in agriculture.

In 1984, she was the first woman elected to the Louisiana Farm Bureau State Board of Directors’ executive committee.

She also helped create the Louisiana Farm

Louisiana Rice Research Board Chairman Jackie Loewer of Branch presents a plaque of appreciation in 2012 to Linda Zaunbrecher of Gueydan for her six years of service on the board.

Bureau Foundation, a scholarship program named in her honor.

In addition, Zaunbrecher was active in the rice industry, having served leadership roles in both Louisiana state rice groups as well as in the USA Rice Federation. She also was part of a delegation that traveled RICEFARMING.COM

to Cuba in 2004 to try to open that market to U.S. rice.

A long-time farmer in Lake Providence, Hamilton is a Korean War veteran who passed away in 2001. He’s being honored posthumously for crucial innovations in cotton production and ginning. He was a driving force in the formation of the Louisiana Agricultural Corporation Self-Insurance Fund, which offers workers’ compensation coverage to employers across the state.

Coburn, of Cheneyville, is one of the state’s earliest crop consultants and contract researchers. Over the past 40 years, he’s had an integral role in increasing producer profitability. Coburn is a founding member of the National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants and the Louisiana Agricultural Consultants Association, where he also served as president. He has developed a national reputation, and his advice is sought frequently when agriculture-related issues arise in Washington, D.C. A native of Morganza, LaCour is respected worldwide for his expertise with sustainability and conservation in the cotton industry. In his work for the Cotton Research and Promotion Program, LaCour has traveled as far as China and Vietnam to share his knowledge of cotton production, and he has been a presenter multiple times for international meetings in Brazil.

The annual Ag Hall of Distinction induction ceremony is presented by the Louisiana Radio Network in cooperation with the Louisiana State University AgCenter, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation. Monsanto serves as title sponsor, and First South Farm Credit is the presenting sponsor.

Certis USA launches organic herbicide

Columbia, Maryland-based Certis USA has introduced HomePlate, a non-selective, broad-spectrum burndown herbicide that works as a foliar contact.

It is rainfast within three hours and achieves total kill in 12-72 hours, depending upon environmental conditions, according to a news release. In addition, HomePlate includes labeled uses as a direct and shielded spray, pre-plant application, post-harvest spray, harvest aid and desiccant.

The herbicide contains a blend of two TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

News

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION DISTRICTS

Industry

(From left) Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Matthew Lohr and NACD President Brent Van Dyke present the Hammond Bennett Award for Conservation Excellence Farmer award to Rominger Farms. Bruce Rominger, second from right, accepted on behalf of the operation.

Rominger Farms feted for conservation practices

Bruce and Rick Rominger, partners in Rominger Farms of Winters, California, were honored recently by the National Association of Conservation Districts for their conservation practices as producers.

The brothers, who have a diverse operation that includes rice, received the Hugh Hammond Bennett Award for Conservation Excellence Farmer award at the association’s recent annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Named after Hugh Hammond Bennett, considered the “father of soil conservation,” the award is designed to “recognize those who are dedicated to conservation planning and implementation,” according to a news release.

The Romingers were spotlighted for their innovative conservation efforts — particularly improving soil health and water-use efficiency — on their 6,500 acres of land in Yolo County.

“Managing that many acres in an environmentally sustainable way while maintaining productivity takes a commitment to long-term conservation planning, which makes Bruce and Rick worthy recipients of this prestigious award,” according to the release. fatty acids as active ingredients — 44 percent caprylic acid and 36 percent capric acid. It features a unique mode of action that kills the green parts of plants and shuts down photosynthesis, causing the plants to essentially starve to death.

HomePlate is currently registered in 45 states, with plans to register throughout the United States, including California, in the coming months. It is National Organics Program labeled and Organic Materials Review Institute listed.

MSU revises Insect Control Guide

Sure to be a best-seller, Mississippi State University’s “2019 Insect Control Guide for Agronomic Crops” is available for free download from https://bit.ly/2tahYVv. The

129-page manual contains insect-related information on the gamut of Delta crops, ranging from rice to soybeans and cotton.

In addition to the latest label information, the guide also includes insecticide performance ratings that compare registered products’ efficacy on major crop pests.

Depending on the crop, the guide also contains color photos of select insect pests.

The guide was revised by Dr. Angus Catchot, MSU Extension professor, entomology and plant pathology.

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Increased flexibility Row rice gains a following in Louisiana

By Bruce Schultz

Louisiana State University AgCenter

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BRUCE SCHULTZ, LSU AGCENTER

A

lthough row-rice production is gaining interest in Louisiana, acreage still pales compared to the 100,000-plus acres of furrow-irrigated in Arkansas. At a recent Louisiana State University AgCenter grower meeting in Rayville, producers heard about the production system that involves irrigating rice much like corn or soybeans.

They also heard results of the first year of commercial planting of Provisia rice, a system that allows producers to control red rice resistant to Newpath herbicide.

More than 100,000 acres of row rice were planted in Arkansas and about 5,000 acres in northeast Louisiana in 2018. Experts expect the acreage to increase this season.

Farmer Elliot Colvin of Richland Parish grew row rice for the first time in 2018, and he says he was surprised how easy it was.

“I was thoroughly impressed,” he says.

Colvin says it’s best to flush a field after it’s planted to see if the water is flowing as expected before the rice is growing.

AgCenter agent Keith Collins conducted row-rice studies in Colvin’s field, a field in Morehouse Parish and a third in Tensas Parish. The method can save water, he says.

The VandeVen farm field in Tensas Parish used 169 pounds of nitrogen per acre, and it yielded 239 bushels, or 66 barrels, of rice per acre, Collins says.

Colvin used 214 pounds of nitrogen per acre with a yield of 235 bushels or 65 barrels of rice per acre.

At Jason Waller’s farm in Morehouse Parish, a total of 231 pounds of nitrogen was used, and the yield was 216 bushels or 60 barrels of rice per acre.

All three fields were planted with hybrid rice.

Colvin says areas of a field where an aerial-applied fertilizer overlapped had bad disease problems and plants lodging.

“Definitely, I’ll be going down on my nitrogen,” Colvin says, adding he probably

Water from collapsible poly tubing is used to irrigate row rice. More farmers are using this method because it offers additional flexibility when they are trying to decide what to plant. No levees are required for this system.

will use no more than 170 to 180 pounds per acre this year.

Strobi-resistant sheath blight AgCenter plant pathologist Don Groth says sheath blight has become resistant to strobilurin fungicides and has continued to spread. Most recently, strobilurin-resistant sheath blight was confirmed in Mississippi.

A new fungicide, Amistar Top from Syngenta, was not as effective as hoped in 2018, he says. It is a premix of azoxystrobin, a strobilurin, and difenoconazole, a triazole.

Many farmers use too much nitrogen, expecting higher yields, but those yield increases can come with a penalty.

“The more nitrogen you have out there, the more disease,” Groth says.

New Provisia rice in the pipeline Groth says two lines of Clearfield rice grown in Puerto Rico were being harvested

by AgCenter rice breeder Adam Famoso,

who will plant the seed in foundation fields this spring at the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station. Both lines have better yield potential than the variety CL153.

Groth also says a new Provisia line — PVL02 — harvested in Puerto Rico outyields the current Provisia PVL01 by 10 percent. A new conventional long-grain line is under development with yields 8 to 10 percent better than the Cheniere variety.

Ben McKnight, AgCenter research associate for weed science, says fields intended for Provisia rice should be clean before planting by controlling weeds with a mixture of Command and Sharpen, Prowl or RiceOne herbicides. That application will enable Provisia to be more effective on red rice, he says.

Permit can be tankmixed with Provisia, but farmers should avoid mixing Provisia with propanil, Grandstand, Grasp or Regiment, McKnight says. Rice at the one- to three-leaf stage can be killed by Provisia.

RICEFARMING.COM

Congress establishes water research center at MSU Stoneville center

TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

COURTESY MSU EXTENSION SERVICE

T

he Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service have joined together to open a new research center focused on water management in the Mississippi Delta.

The Agricultural Water Research Center, housed on the MAFES West Farm near Stoneville, will serve growers in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri, says Jeff Johnson, head of the Mississippi State University Delta Research and Extension Center.

Collaborations in the Lower Mississippi River Basin will include researchers from MAFES, several USDA-ARS research units, the University of Mississippi, the University of Arkansas, Arkansas State University, Louisiana State University and the University of Missouri.

Plans for establishing the facility began in 2014 after several meetings with researchers, regional farmers and stakeholders to discuss water-related research in the Lower Mississippi River region. They identified several issues and needs related to water management, irrigation technologies, agronomic practices, simulation models, economic analysis, hydrology and climate.

One of the center’s goals is to expand the scope of the present-day RISER program within Mississippi and throughout the region.

The Row-Crop Irrigation Science and Extension Research program was developed as a science-based approach to evaluating irrigation best management practices in the Delta. It is designed to help producers reduce water use while maintaining yield and profitability. Grower-participants agree to allow an MSU researcher to manage the irrigation decisions on one field while the producer manages the control — or grower standard.

Since 2013, the RISER program has involved more than 60 producer fields covering all major soil types in the Delta. While maintaining yield, participants reduced water use by 25 percent over the controls.

Martin Locke, left, director of the Agricultural Research Service National Sedimentation Laboratory; Jeff Johnson, head of the Mississippi State University Delta Research and Extension Center; and Greg Bohach, vice president for the MSU Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine, stand at the site of the newly created agricultural water research center near Stoneville, Mississippi.

The results demonstrate the potential for computerized hole selection — such as PHAUCET or Pipe Planner — ­ surge irrigation and soil moisture sensors to improve water-use efficiency and grower profitability.

AWD saves water Participating rice producers, for example, found they could use an average of 30 percent less water and still maintain yields using alternate wetting and drying.

The practice enlists multiple-inlet rice irrigation, computerized hole selection and collapsible poly tubing.

AWD involves establishing and maintaining an initial flood for 21 days to allow the rice to take up nitrogen. Fields are then allowed to dry to 4 inches below the soil surface for the next four to six weeks until the flood is brought back and maintained for the two-week period when rice is flowering, or heading. A Pani pipe sunk in the field helps growers determine water depth below the surface.

Because multiple-inlet rice irrigation allows growers to flood all paddies within a field simultaneously, they’re able to bring the water back to AWD fields much quicker than they could with conventional flow-through irrigation.

More RISER savings With observations from 20 locations, RISER soybean trial yields were equivalent to the fields managed by the producer.

Water use was reduced by 21 percent and water-use efficiency improved by 36 percent. Producer profitability was increased by $13 per acre.

Similarly, RISER corn trials consisted of 16 locations. Trial results demonstrate the utility of irrigation timing tools, such as moisture sensors. Using moisture sensors to trigger irrigation allowed the MSU researcher to reduce water use by 3.9 acre-inches, a 41 percent reduction compared to the producer. Corn yields were increased by 7 bushels and overall profitability was increased by $27 per acre.

Johnson says support from former Sen. Thad Cochran, the Delta Council and the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation was essential in pushing this project forward.

Mark Henry, Extension Research, is seeking growers interested in participating in the RISER program on their farms this season. Contact him at 662-8206093.

Mississippi State University contributed this article.

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New kids on the block Horizon Ag, University of Arkansas join to introduce two Clearfield varieties.

By Vicky Boyd Editor

I

n partnership with the University of Arkansas and BASF, Horizon Ag plans to introduce two Clearfield varieties for seed production this season and for commercial planting in 2020.

The new long grain and new medium grain were released by the University of Arkansas and are from the breeding program of Dr. Xueyan Sha at the Rice Research and Extension Center in Stuttgart, Arkansas. They also mark the first Clearfield releases from Sha since he arrived at the university.

CLL15 and CLM04 are just the latest two varieties in various stages of development by Horizon Ag and its university breeding partners. What these introductions mean to existing Clearfield varieties will depend on market demand, says Dr. Tim Walker, Horizon Ag general manager.

“We will continue to add materials to the pipeline, and variet-

ies will come and go,” he says. “CL172 is probably going to be a short-lived variety. Then the question will be what do we do with CL151 and CL153? A lot of that will depend on the first two years of CLL15 being out there.”

Consistency from south to north Developed using traditional breeding techniques, CLL15 — known experimentally as CLX1111 — contains the Pi-ta gene as well as the Pi-kh gene. In combination, they offer a very strong blast package similar to that of CL153 and CL172, Walker says.

In theory, having two genes provides resistance to a broader spectrum of blast pathogen races, Sha says.

“But it’s no guarantee, and it depends on the race dynamics,” he says. “That’s why I always try to bring in some new resistance genes.”

The new Clearfield long grain, CLL15, exhibited consistent yield potential in strip trials from Louisiana to the Missouri Bootheel during 2018. It was developed by the University of Arkansas and shown off during its 2018 Rice Field Day Stuttgart under experimental numbering. in Stuttgart.

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RICEFARMING.COM

New Clearfield medium grain The Clearfield medium-grain release, CLM04, offers yield potential comparable to conventional Jupiter and Titan plus twogene blast resistance and Newpath herbicide tolerance. Jupiter, on the other hand, only contains the Pi-k s gene for blast resistance.

Like CLL15, CLM04 – known experimentally as CLX1030 — was developed using traditional breeding techniques. It draws its TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

PHOTOS BY VICKY BOYD

Sha says the long-grain parentage of the new line involves multiple elite breeding lines derived from several old varieties developed by the University of Arkansas and Louisiana State University AgCenter.

During 2018, Horizon Ag conducted several strip trials from Louisiana north to the Missouri Bootheel with CLL15 and two other potential Clearfield long-grain releases.

“One of the things we really liked about this variety (CLL15) was how consistent it was from south to north, and it was right there with CL151 in Louisiana from a yield standpoint,” Walker says. “And it was better than 151 in other strip trials.”

In the 2018 Arkansas Rice Performance Trials in 10 locations, CLL15 yielded an average of 192 bushels per acre compared to 190 bushels per acre for the competitive hybrid, CLXL745. In the trials conducted from 2016 –2018, CLL15 averaged 191 bushels per acre compared to 197 bushels per acre for CLXL745.

CLL15 milling yields are similar to CL153 and CL172, Walker says. It also appears to have low chalk and produces a kernel suitable for the packaged rice market.

“CL153 and CL172 are newer releases, and they’re both very good millers,” he says. “Again, our approach really since 2011 has been to bring yield and quality along at the same time, understanding the issues we have in the industry.”

Standing 38 inches tall, CLL15 is a true semi-dwarf and has much better standability than CL151, Sha says. It has similar maturity to CL151, with both reaching 50 percent heading in 83 days. CL153 is slightly later, reaching 50 percent heading in 85 days.

Sha made the initial cross in 2013, and the CLL15 variety is available for commercialization about seven years later. Walker credits Sha and Dr. Steve Linscombe, retired Louisiana State University AgCenter rice breeder, with maximizing use of the winter rice nursery in Puerto Rico.

“By them taking full advantage of the winter rice nursery, the process from start to finish is a little bit quicker,” Walker says, adding it probably shaves about a year off commercialization.

Sha says he travels to Puerto Rico about six to eight times per year to check on new varietal development. Although the facility provides two additional generations per year, he only uses it during the early breeding stages and for seed increase.

Strip and on-farm trials still need to be conducted in the MidSouth where farmers will be growing the varieties commercially, Sha says.

Barring unforeseen problems, Walker says they expect to have about 70,000 cwt of CLL15 seed available for planting up to 100,000 commercial acres in 2020.

For 2019, Walker says Horizon Ag will have no fewer than three advanced Clearfield lines in strip trials and university performance trials. From those, no more than two could possibly be released in 2020 for seed production.

CLM04 is a new Clearfield medium grain with a two-gene blast package and strong yield potential. It, too, was bred by the University of Arkansas.

parentage mostly from Jupiter, as well as from Neptune, Bengal and CL161, Sha says.

The new release has similar maturity to Jupiter, reaching 50 percent heading in 86 days compared to Jupiter’s 87 days. Titan, on the other hand, reaches 50 percent heading in 81 days.

In 43 trials conducted in Arkansas and throughout the Southern United States, CLM04 yielded an average of 198 bushels per acre compared to 195 bushels per acre for Jupiter and 200 bushels per acre for Titan.

“CLM04 appears to really hold with Jupiter and Titan, especially in Arkansas,” Walker says. “A lot of people are growing Jupiter without a contract because of the yield potential. I think that trend follows with Titan, so CLM04 really gives both those varieties a run for the money.”

CLM04 also appears to have more yield stability than the previously released Clearfield medium grain, CL272.

Amylose content and gelatinization temperatures are almost identical for CLM04 and Jupiter, which Kellogg’s has approved for use.

Walker says they have entered Kellogg’s testing protocol with CLM04, but it will be at least a year before they have a final answer.

The results from each of two small samples Sha has already sent Kellogg’s came back as satisfactory. Currently, he is working to send 1,000 pounds of CLM04 for a pilot-scale run.

“We’re trying to do whatever we can to speed up the approval process,” Sha says.

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17

Speaking

Consider a seed treatment to boost seedling vigor DR. M.O. “MO” WAY

TEXAS Rice Research Entomologist moway@aesrg.tamu.edu

and DR. SHANE ZHOU

TEXAS Associate Professor & Research Plant Pathologist Texas A&M Research and Extension Center at Beaumont xzhou@aesrg.tamu.edu Early season disease management is becoming increasingly important as Texas rice farmers trend toward planting earlier at lower seeding rates (about 50 percent of Texas rice acreage is planted to hybrids). Clearly, the earlier plantings have a better chance of producing both high-yielding main and ratoon crops.

But planting earlier means exposing seed to lower temperatures and possibly wetter soil, which are conducive to seedling

Seedling diseases can manifest themselves pre- and post-emergence, and planting depth and soil moisture can affect your stand.

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disease problems. Seedling diseases cause irregular, thin stands and weakened plants.

Symptoms of seedling disease include decay of seeds, seedling blight, and damping-off (see photo below). Seedling diseases tend to be more severe in field areas with poor soil drainage.

Dr. Shane Zhou’s recent research has documented that almost all commercially available hybrid and inbred rice varieties are susceptible to seedling diseases. So we strongly recommend planting high quality seed treated with a fungicide(s). Fungicide seed treatments can significantly increase stand and improve vigor.

We also strongly recommend treating your seed with an insecticide because the treatment threshold for the rice water weevil is very low. Dr. Mo Way normally does not recommend preventative insecticide applications, but his research shows that 1 immature rice water weevil per core (4-inch diameter by 4-inch deep plug of soil containing 1 to about 3 plants) reduces yield by 75 pounds per acre. Way can find at least this density in virtually every untreated field he inspects.

Seedling diseases can manifest themselves pre- and post-emergence, and planting depth and soil moisture can affect your stand.

Planting too deep also can stress emerging seedlings. Light (as opposed to heavy) seed can run out of carbohydrates before emergence into the sunlight where photosynthesis occurs.

Planting too shallow can expose seeds to cold, dry conditions, preventing good germination. This scenario also is favorable

DR. SHANE ZHOU

Specialists

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Specialists

Speaking

to blackbird damage. If your field(s) have a history of blackbird problems, you might consider applying the blackbird repellent AV-1011 to your seed.

Also, planting into a poorly prepared seedbed (too cloddy, too much dying vegetation from a recent burndown application and not leveled properly), sets you up for seedling disease problems.

Another important consideration is inspecting and calibrating your drill. Many years ago, a farmer mentioned he planted a few acres in his field before discovering a couple of the drill openings were clogged by mud dauber nests. Not only should you check your planter but also inspect your field carefully for seedling disease problems.

Sometimes the problem may not be disease related but insect related. For example, chinch bugs can feed on seedlings below and above ground. Way has observed entire fields wiped out by chinch bugs feeding on seedling rice. So we encourage you to walk out in your fields and look for problems from planting all the way to harvest.

plications in 2018. One interesting observation from 2018 were the results of furrow-irrigated rice.

From both my observation and that of our weed scientists, furrow-irrigated fields were some of the cleanest ones. This was likely for several reasons, including the mentality of needing additional herbicide applications and the ability to flush more easily and often for herbicide activation.

Ultimately, the goal for 2019 should be to lead off the season with a strong residual herbicide program at planting that gets activated. This should be followed with an overlapping residual prior to the first residual beginning to break. When post-emergence herbicides are needed, be sure conditions favor actively growing weeds and adequate soil moisture for success. A grassy crop can still make a good crop, but a clean crop makes life much easier.

Follow these tillage tips for weed management Overlapping residuals is key in a good water year DR. JARROD HARDKE

ARKANSAS Assoc. Professor/Rice Extension Agronomist University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service jhardke@uaex.edu The 2018 season was one of the most trying for weed control that many can ever remember. The hot, dry conditions with little activating rainfall resulted in most growers playing from behind all season. The result was one of the grassiest crops in recent memory, perhaps ever.

There were a number of things to learn from last season. The first is that the most successful weed control programs had two successfully activated residual herbicide applications, regardless of product selection. Command activated early followed by more Command or Facet, Prowl or Bolero, resulted in the best grass control. The addition of post-emergence herbicides as needed with a residual herbicide performed particularly well.

Post-emergence herbicide applications also had their share of difficulties in 2018. In general, when weeds are under dry, stressed conditions, they are not going to take up herbicides effectively. When this happens, control is going to be reduced.

Typically, sufficient soil moisture is needed to have actively growing weeds that will take up enough herbicide to result in control. This was not the case throughout much of 2018 and resulted in numerous weed control failures throughout the state.

Flushing is not something that growers typically like to do — or even can do at times — and often not efficiently. However, in the absence of rainfall, this is exactly what is needed to achieve success with pre-emergence and post-emergence herbicides.

The most expensive herbicide application is the one that doesn’t work, and there were some really expensive herbicide ap-

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DR. WHITNEY BRIM-DEFOREST

CALIFORNIA University of California Cooperative Extension Rice Adviser Sutter, Yuba, Placer and Sacramento Counties wbrimdeforest@ucanr.edu It is looking to be a pretty good water year in California. As of press time in the Sacramento Valley, we are running close to the average precipitation expected for this time of year (over 90 percent), and our snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is considerably above average (140 percent of normal).

Most growers have already drained their winter-flooded fields and will be starting ground preparation in the next couple months. The water table is high; the soil moisture content is high and will likely remain so for weeks, even if the rain tapers off in March. So how does all of this affect weed management and tillage operations?

Weed seeds need proper temperature (warmer is usually better, up to a point) and moisture, to germinate. The weed seeds that we see germinate in a given season are those in the top few inches of soil.

The weed seeds buried deeper in the soil profile will not germinate, and they will remain buried and dormant unless brought close to the soil surface through tillage.

In a year like this, how should we best prepare to minimize weed control issues during the season?

First, tillage operations should occur as close to planting as possible. The longer a field is left tilled and not planted, the greater the opportunity for weed seed germination, either due to rain or to moisture in the heavily saturated soil in a year like RICEFARMING.COM

Speaking

VICKY BOYD

Specialists

~

This year’s high water table and ample soil moisture will likely affect California producer’s choices of tillage and weed control.

this. Once the weeds germinate ahead of rice, controlling them with in-season herbicide applications can be nearly impossible, especially if the weeds got a big head start. This is because our herbicide applications are timed for certain rice leaf stages and are not based on weed growth stages.

Second, unless necessary, tillage should be shallow to disturb as little of the soil as possible. As long as weeds are not going to seed at the end of the season, the top few inches of soil should eventually be depleted of weed seeds. Over time, populations of germinating weeds in the field should go down.

Deep tillage will bring up weed seeds from deeper in the soil profile, negating the effects of the depletion of those top few inches of soil. Soil deeper in the profile is also likely full of moisture, enabling those once-dormant weed seeds to germinate quickly.

To maximize weed control efforts in a good rain year like this one, till as close to planting as possible and till shallowly. Looking forward to a good year!

TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

Dry conditions in 2018 challenged herbicides and weed control DR. JASON BOND

MISSISSIPPI Research/Extension Weed Scientist jason.bond@msstate.edu About 10,000 Mississippi rice acres were seeded in March 2018. However, more acres were seeded from late April through early May. Postemergence herbicide treatments for rice seeded in March were applied on about May 1. These applications were made following an extended period of unseasonably low temperatures, but performance was acceptable in most cases.

Postemergence herbicide treatments for later-seeded rice were applied during a prolonged period of hot and dry conditions in May and June. Lack of soil moisture caused poor weed growth and inadequate control with postemergence treatments. IncorMARCH 2019

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Specialists Speaking

Starter nitrogen applications offer agronomic advantages DR. DUSTIN HARRELL LOUISIANA Extension Rice Specialist dharrell@agcenter.lsu.edu

Many questions come up every year about starter nitrogen (N) applications in drill-seeded, delayed-flood rice. I thought it would be prudent to answer some of these questions now, so you can determine if you want to include a starter N application this spring.

The most common question I generally get is, “Will a starter N application result in a yield response at the end of the year?”

Previous research in Louisiana and Mississippi has shown that a starter N application of 20 pounds of N per acre will not always result in a grain yield increase at the end of the year.

However, you are more likely to see a starter fertilizer N yield response in a clay soil compared to silt loam soil. This is most likely due to the ability of clay soils to “fix” or make ammonium-N temporarily unavailable for uptake and the slower diffusion rate of ammonium-N observed in clay soils.

Coincidently, these are also the same reasons we often see we typically need 30 pounds of N per acre more on clay soils compared to silt loam soils.

Another oft-asked question is, “Is there an agronomic advantage to using a starter N application in rice?” The answer here is an emphatic yes! Although you should not expect a yield advantage from a starter N application every year, there are advantages of the application that cannot be denied.

One advantage is it will stimulate faster vegetative growth.

This is especially evident in cooler weather when the rice seems to grow very slowly. Faster early season growth will lead to a rice stand that is more competitive with weeds and,

poration of residual herbicides was compromised due to lack of rainfall or delays in surface irrigation.

With few exceptions, control of broadleaf species was excellent throughout 2018 in Mississippi. Lack of barnyardgrass control was the primary concern, but this did not appear to be restricted to a single herbicide mode of action or one specific herbicide treatment. Although exceptions are always observed, barnyardgrass control in row crops was inadequate in most areas of the Mississippi Delta in 2018.

Loyant herbicide is a new postemergence herbicide for control of broadleaf, grass and sedge weeds in rice. Earliest Loyant treatments in Mississippi were applied approximately May 1, and reports of rice tolerance and performance with these early applications were positive. However, many Loyant treatments in Mississippi were applied during the second half of May and early June.

The first negative reports in Mississippi concerning Loyant were related to off-target movement to soybean. Six cases of

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in turn, will result in a stand that can be flooded a week or so earlier than rice without a starter fertilizer application.

This is highly beneficial for rice because the flood is our biggest weed-control tool in our toolbox. Starter N applications will also stimulate uptake of other plant essential nutrients like phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulfur (S), and zinc (Zn).

One of the biggest negatives about starter N applications in rice is the efficiency of the application. Only about 2 pounds of the N from a 20 pound-per-acre application actually makes it into the rice plant prior to the tillering stage of development and flood establishment.

The remaining 18 pounds of the applied N will be in the nitrate-N form by the time the flood is established. The nitrate-N will be turned into a gas and lost through a natural process called denitrification once the flood is established and the oxygen is depleted from the submerged soil.

This is why you should never count the starter N application in your seasonal N target.

I personally like to use starter N applications in rice because of all the positive things they bring to the table, even though they are probably not going to result in a measurable economic advantage at the end of the season. If you do decide to use a starter N application, consider the following: • Be sure to incorporate the fertilizer N into the soil quickly with an irrigation (or rainfall) to get the nutrient to the roots of the plant. This is especially important if you are using urea.

• If you are using urea and cannot irrigate the N in quickly, consider treating the urea with a urease inhibitor. Since the application is so inefficient, consider using no more than 21 pounds of N per acre.

• If you are not incorporating the N into the soil prior to planting, consider applying the N around the two-leaf stage of development just prior to an irrigation.

off-target movement of Loyant occurred in Mississippi in 2018, and this was considered relatively minor in an area where the ratio of soybean to rice acres is nearly 12:1, with many rice fields surrounded by soybean.

In early June, multiple cases of rice injury following Loyant application were reported. Most symptomology observed in commercial fields was consistent with that seen in Mississippi research evaluating rice cultivar tolerance to Loyant. By season’s end, rough rice yields in affected fields were acceptable to the growers even in cases where injury was considered severe.

Simultaneous to injury reports, practitioners began to complain of poor weed control with Loyant. Primary complaints were barnyardgrass control. Some treatments that performed poorly in some applications provided acceptable weed control in others.

Complications with Loyant were not widespread in Mississippi in 2018, and this herbicide is poised to be an important component of weed control programs in Mississippi rice in 2019.

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