Rice farming march 2018

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PROFITABLE PRODUCTION STRATEGIES

MARCH 2018

Arkansas releases new jasmine-type long grain Giant snails threaten rice-crawfish rotation

Here to stay?

Recurring armyworms plague California growers

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March 2018

COLUMNS

www.ricefarming.com

Vol. 52, No. 4

COVER STORY

4 From the Editor

Rice's long history bucks 'what's hot in food' trends

6 Guest Column

Rice and sustainability

8 USA Rice Update

Rice industry sets priorities for the next Farm Bill

DEPARTMENTS Rice business scene

20 Specialist Speaking

Early herbicide mistakes can plague you all season long ON THE COVER: Armyworms once again plagued California rice growers in 2017.

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

F E AT U R E S 9

The yin and yang

14

Floods aid expansion

16

New tools in the tool box

17

The smell of success

18

Farm & Gin Show recap

Photo by Luis Espino, University of California Cooperative Extension

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GET CONNECTED Stay up-to-date with the latest from Rice Farming. www.facebook.com/ ricefarming1 Follow us on Twitter: @RiceFarming TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

10

Here to stay?

19 Industry News

9

Shorter supplies have shorn up the market, but increased 2018 planting projections cloud long-term outlook.

Giant invasive snail threatens the rice-crawfish rotation in southwest Louisiana.

14

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

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

Tight world rice supplies mean any disruption could push markets higher.

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From The

RiceFaRming

Editor

Rice’s long history bucks ‘what’s hot’ in food trends The Top 10 food trends for a given year are always amusing to read. What’s going to be hot and what’s going to be “not”?

Even more interesting is going back to a previous year’s forecasts to see what, if any, food items actually were hot and how many of the projected trendy ones fizzled.

Every year, the National Restaurant Association releases the results of its “what’s hot” survey compiled by asking members of the American Culinary Federation to review a long list of items and rank them “hot trend,” “yesterday’s news” or “perennial favorite.”

Rice fits nicely into many of this year’s top Vicky Boyd 20 trends, including healthful kids’ meals, auEditor thentic ethnic cuisine and ethnic-inspired kids’ dishes like sushi and teriyaki. The restaurant association also has a list titled “Top 10 Concept Trends” that undoubtedly deals with what the chefs see as the up-andcoming ideas for their restaurants. Again, rice can fit well with natural ingredients/ clean menus, environmentally sustainable, farm/estate branded, locally sourced and simplicity/back to basics.

Unfortunately, both lists also predict that “vegetable carb substitutes, such as cauliflower rice, zucchini spaghetti,” will be movers and shakers this year and going forward. Are these trends really here to stay or are they one-hit wonders, flashes in the pan or here today, gone tomorrow?

One has only to look at the restaurant association’s “What’s Hot in 2015” report to see how far off target the predictions can be. Two years ago, the group forecasted alternate protein in the form of insects, shrub cocktails, bacon-flavored chocolate, molecular gastronomy and foam garnishes would be hot. The following year, its 2016 report pointed out those trends were losing steam as was gluten-free cuisine and quinoa.

Low and behold, what trends are hot for 2018? Ancient grains, including quinoa, and non-wheat noodles are high on the list.

Offal — entrails and internal organs of animals — is yesterday’s news. When did they ever hit the headlines? Flavored popcorn and pumpkin spice anything also are old news. Don’t tell Starbucks — I think they now have pumpkin spice drinks for half the year and not just around Halloween and Thanksgiving. And algae? Don’t you use copper or drain your rice fields to get rid of algae? Who knew it was a hot food trend only a few years ago.

These types of lists are fun to read when taken with a grain of salt. Rice may not be the trend setter that nose-to-tail cooking or shrub cocktails were, but maybe that’s good. The Chinese have been consuming rice since before 4,000 BC, making it a perennial favorite at least on some lists.

Vicky Send comments to: Editor, Rice Farming Magazine, 6515 Goodman Road, Box 360, Olive Branch, MS 38654. Call 901-767-4020 or email vlboyd@onegrower.com.

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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

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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 Decem ber, by One Grower Publishing LLC, 6515 Goodman Road, Box 360, Olive Branch, MS 38654. 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.

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Future Driven.

Farmer Focused.

Blake Gerard, Rice Grower Cape Girardeau, MO

Staying ahead in today’s rice industry requires looking beyond next season. That’s why you need forward-looking partnerships that provide you with high-quality, high-performance varieties and innovative technologies so that you can be successful season after season.

HorizonSeed.com Provisia™ is a trademark and Clearfield® is a registered trademark of BASF. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2018 Horizon Ag, LLC. All Rights Reserved. HORIZ-18026 RF-0318

Rice and sustainability

L

et’s be honest. You are probably getting tired of hearing the word sustainability. I know that I sometimes do.

At its best, the word can sometimes still be vague and nebulous ­— fluid in its meaning depending on who is saying it.

At its worst, it can be a word that co-opts and misappropriates the credit for activities done by farmers who have been focused on stewardship long before anyone determined that “sustainability” would be the word of choice by eager marketing departments.

Nevertheless, it’ the word that we have.

As an industry that in the past 20 years has reduced land GUEST COLUMN and energy use by over a third, water use by over half, and made significant contributions to waterfowl and wildlife habitat, sustainability — regardless of what word you use to describe it — is something our industry is doing well. But as the marketplace continues telling our industry’s story, how can we best own the value of our actions?

Measuring sustainability The sustainability movement is global.

When you look at what is happening with rice and sustainability around the world, you encounter an alphabet soup of acronyms and abbreviations for platforms and initiatives created by organizations.

Lately, there is increased pressure for farmers to adopt some of these global platforms and initiatives on their farms here in the United States. These platforms and initiatives include SAI (Sustainable Agriculture Initiative), SRP (Sustainable Rice Platform) and others.

The goal is for the supply chain to be able to instill confidence in consumers that genuine sustainable practices are being used. Just because we know the things we’re doing doesn’t mean consumers do.

The good news is that most U.S. rice farms score quite well compared to rice from other countries. The bad news is that using these tools can be time-consuming

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and tedious. Most of all, they're not our tools. They were created by someone else.

Someone once said that if you aren’t at the table, you might end up on the menu.

For this reason, I think it’s important to engage with these and other platforms to ensure the concerns and nuances of our practices here in the United States are well accounted for, valued and compensated.

One place our industry has been at the table is at Field to Market (FTM), an alliance of corporations and producer groups from multiple commodities that have come together to illustrate continual improvement in sustainability using the Field Print Calculator.

Engaging with Sustainable Rice Platform and Sustainable Agriculture Initiative is a bit more difficult. But some progress has been made to align some of these global tools with FTM’s Field Print Calculator, which could be a helpful shortcut.

Another new initiative we should all be aware of is the American Carbon Registry’s pilot Sustainable Rice Standard. This voluntary certification tool is being built on the Sustainable Rice Platform, a global tool. But the carbon registry seeks to adapt and amend this tool for U.S.-specific activities not addressed in the global tool.

Since this program is in the development phase, we have the opportunity to provide useful feedback. The timing is good since the platform will be undergoing trial testing on some U.S. rice farms this season.

An important question Whatever you may think of any one of these programs, the overarching question remains: Is a sustainability standard something we want or need?

Where I have arrived is this: Whether a large portion of our industry ever seeks

VICKY BOYD

By Mark Isbell

The Rice Checker, which Arkansas rice producer Mark Isbell builds and markets, is one of the many tools he uses to reduce the carbon footprint of rice production.

to adopt or endorses such a standard, for now we should engage with the process.

To not engage or participate will be to cede the story of U.S. rice to others.

Let’s keep telling our good stories, but let’s also engage with others who are developing tools that could help us tell those stories. The cost of not engaging with the sustainability tools, initiatives and platforms could be substantial; the cost of engagement and participation will only be our time.

Any tool that seeks to measure sustainability in rice production should include a diversity of opinion and input from all rice-growing states.

The author is a fifth-generation rice farmer in Lonoke County, Arkansas, and a member of the USA Rice Sustainability Committee, liaison to Field to Market and a steering committee member for the American Carbon Registry initiative.

ON THE WEB  To see the tool the American Carbon Registry is developing and to provide feedback, please visit: https://www.winrock.org/ms/winrock-sustainable-rice-initiative/  To learn more about Sustainable Rice Platform: http://www.sustainablerice.org/  To learn more about Sustainable Agriculture Initiative: http://www.saiplatform.org/  To learn more about the great work U.S. rice farmers are already doing in sustainability: https://www.usarice.com/public-policy/conservation RICEFARMING.COM

Seeing Loyant Work Is Believing Hunter and Drew Carter Carter Brothers Partnership Stuttgart, Arkansas After hearing good things about Loyant herbicide, Hunter Carter — who farms with his brother, Drew, — was able to see firsthand how it performed on their own operation last season.

The Carters were part of a handful of producers who participated in the Field Forward Program and experienced Loyant herbicide before it was registered. And the Carters liked what they saw.

“It worked wonderfully. It did everything we’d heard it could do,” Hunter says. “It provided complete control of all the grasses and the sedges that were present in the field.”

A Typical Weed Program Most of their ground is zero-graded, and the Carters use either no-till or minimum till to avoid disturbing the seedbed.

“Our goal is to decrease tillage in order to control weed pressure,” Hunter says.

A typical herbicide program involves spraying Command and Sharpen — and glyphosate if needed — shortly after planting.

About two weeks later, they return with an application of RiceBeaux and pendimethalin, depending on the weather. The third application comes after another couple of weeks and involves a Regiment-Facet tankmix preflood. A permenent flood is applied and held until the fields are ready to drain for harvest.

Low Use Rates Their 5-acre Loyant test field received a burndown using glyphosate and Command followed by an application of RiceBeaux.

At the four- to five-leaf stage, they followed with a tankmix of pendimethalin for residual activity and Loyant. The pendimethalin recommendation came from his brother, Grant, who walks all of the brothers’ fields and manages the Helena dealership in Stuttgart.

The results were “excellent” weed control, including resistant barnyardgrass and flatsedge, Hunter says. What appeals to him is Loyant’s broad-spectrum activity.

“I spray everything myself,” he says. “Just from the mixing side, it’s easier. With Loyant, it’s one chemical instead of putting two to three together to kill one thing. So that’s one of the big things for me is just the ease of mixing and not having to have nearly as much product.”

Hunter (left) and Drew Carter of Carter Brothers Partnership • Third-generation farmers • Farm about 5,000 acres as Carter Brothers Partnership • Farms are near Wabbaseka and Humprey, Arkansas • Grow about 50 percent rice, 25 percent soybeans and 25 percent corn • Drew received a B.S. in crop science from the University of Arkansas in 2008 • Hunter and Drew are members of the Arkansas Farm Bureau and Producers Rice Mill • Hunter married Leah Carter in 2005. Two kids: daughter Camille, 4, and son Finley, 8 • Both brothers like to hunt and play golf

Recap: Seeing Loyant Work is Believing

t

1. The Carters were part of a handful of producers who participated in the Field Forward Program and experienced Loyant herbicide before it was registered.

2. Loyant provided complete control of all the grasses and the sedges that were present in the field.

3. Just from the mixing side, it’s easier. With Loyant, it’s one chemical instead of putting two to three together to kill one thing.

4. The results were “excellent” weed control, including resistant barnyardgrass and flatsedge.

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USA Rice

Update

Rice industry sets priorities for the next Farm Bill

By Betsy Ward President and CEO USA Rice

I

’m not going to lie to you — things in Washington, D.C., are a little strange.

Important positions in some federal agencies are going unfilled, at times the administration appears to be at war with itself and Congress is more divided than ever. So we were thrilled to receive good news last month when Congress, in passing a short-term budget agreement, actually worked out some issues that were threatening to trip up the Farm Bill.

Dairy and cotton were addressed in the early February budget compromise in a way that will not affect funding available for the Farm Bill, so we actually head into the spring with a good deal of momentum. And we are all going to need it, because the Farm Bill can be a nail biter at times.

Realistic expectations I believe our expectations are completely realistic. The root of many issues within this legislation — or most agriculture laws and regulations in general — stems from a lack of understanding. We all know how far most Americans are removed from their food and where and how it is grown. It’s not just children who may think hamburgers “come from McDonalds.”

Do you think every member of Congress has been to a rice farm? That they know what you are doing? The challenges you face? Intellectually many of them do. But reading about it and seeing it are not the same thing. And I know you can appreciate that.

This is why it is so important that we head into the Farm Bill season with clearly delineated goals and objectives, and concise messages that are backed by facts and science.

I think our policy committees have done an excellent job once again getting us ready for the challenges ahead, and I commend them for their work, dedication and foresight. With that, I will share some of the guiding principles they have established for our industry.

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Goals and objectives First, we would like lawmakers to recognize that the Farm Bill is more than four times as effective at reducing the deficit as it was projected to be. Overall Farm Bill funding must be protected, and the new legislation should cover a period of not less than five years to provide as much certainty as possible as you make your plans.

It is vital the bill includes a viable counter-cyclical price protection program with a statutorily set price floor. And price loss coverage, or PLC, would be more effective if delivered sooner than the current program structure allows, perhaps through partial or advanced payments based on estimated payments.

“Actively engaged in farming” regulations are arbitrary and overly burdensome. They should be simplified, adding common sense and a dose of reality to make Title I support available to all farms.

We all know rice tells perhaps the greatest agricultural conservation story. As such, the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill is important. We would like to keep funding intact, especially for the working lands programs.

We’re also seeking assurances that the Conservation Stewardship Program remains incentive based and is not transformed into a cost-share program similar to the Environmental Quality Incentive Program. We also want to ensure the Regional Conservation Partnership Program is fully funded and that any changes do not adversely affect the rice industry.

We know crop insurance is still not quite there for rice. So we’re directing U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency to develop standards that would allow conventional flooding, intermittent flooding, alternate wetting and drying (AWD), and furrow irrigation as acceptable and insurable irrigation practices.

These are just a few of our principles that we have been and will continue to share with legislators and their staff as the new Farm Bill is drafted. I believe all of these expectations are realistic, achievable and in some cases, overdue. I hope you agree and will join me in making your voice heard on these issues.

RICEFARMING.COM

The yin and yang Shorter supplies have shorn up the current market, but increased 2018 planting projections cloud long-term price outlook.

By Kurt Guidry

Larger acreage projections The contrasting view to the positive supply-and-demand picture is the potential for increased acreage and production in 2018. While the potential for larger supplies would always be a concern for a market, it is even more troubling for the rice market as much of the price improvement in 2017 has been attributable to lower supplies and much less to improved demand.

If the price improvement has been mostly driven by lower supplies, then the potential of recapturing those supplies with increased acreage and production would suggest the potential for considerable downward pressure on prices in 2018.

As it relates to potential acreage this season, the biggest player will likely be Arkansas. Given that that state represents roughly half of all U.S. rice acres planted, a large shift in Arkansas acres could have significant impacts. Looking at trends in Arkansas rice since 2000 shows that each time acres fell by more than 5 percent in one year, acres increased by an average of nearly 11 percent the next.

This trend is even more dramatic since 2012 — acres increased by an average of nearly 23 percent following a year in which acres decreased by at least 5 percent. Adding to the view of larger Arkansas acreage in 2018 is the lack of attractive alternatives.

According to profitability projections developed by the UniTWITTER: @RICEFARMING

COURTESY USA RICE

W

hen reviewing the factors influencing the rice market, it becomes fairly apparent that contrasting forces could shape future price movement.

On one hand, the supply-and-demand fundamentals for the rice market are as positive as they have been in many years. Ending stocks for all rice are estimated at 29.2 million hundredweight for the 2017/18 marketing year, the lowest since the 2000/01 marketing year. Long-grain rice stocks are also historically low at 16.4 million cwt and are nearly 50 percent lower than the previous year.

The significantly tighter supply situation has helped strengthen and support prices to this point in the marketing year and give some promise for further strengthening until new supplies become available with the 2018 crop. While demand will have to play a part in any future price improvement, it is not unreasonable to project another $1 to $1.50 per barrel upside potential in this market in the short term.

This not only provides promise for improved pricing prospects for what little old crop supplies have not been marketed, but it also provides some potential for improved pricing opportunities for new crop rice.

versity of Arkansas, rice holds a considerable advantage in projected returns above both variable and fixed costs. With all signs pointing to higher Arkansas acreage, early projections suggest acres could increase from 1.1 million in 2017 to 1.3 million to 1.4 million in 2018. In addition, more pressure will be placed on the demand side of the market to keep prices supported. Unfortunately, the demand side has had difficulty establishing any consistency over the past several years.

Short-term vs. long-term prices So which of these contrasting views of the market will eventually win out? This really could be a situation in which we see short-term improvement in prices, followed by considerable downward pressure. In the short term, signs are beginning to materialize that tight supplies will finally start forcing prices higher.

After stalling around the $20 per-barrel level ($5.55 per bushel or $12.34 cwt) over the past couple of months, more reports are starting to surface of prices in the low- to mid-$20 per-barrel range with most market analysts pointing to $21 per barrel ($5.83 per bushel or $12.96 cwt) before any significant interest from sellers.

This short-term strength should not, however, be taken as a sign for longer-term price direction. Unless something changes that drastically alters the outlook for 2018 acreage and production, long-term prices are likely to come under pressure.

Although the improved fundamental supply-and-demand situation that has developed for the 2017/18 marketing year will give a stronger foundation to start the 2018 production year, the current projections for 2018 acreage and uncertainty regarding overall demand strength suggests a price projection for the 2018/19 marketing year in the $17 to $19 per-barrel range ($10.50 to $11.73 cwt).  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.

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Here to stay?

Armyworms in the fourth and fifth instar are voracious feeders and can cause significant defoliation.

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PHOTOS BY LUIS ESPINO, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

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

RICEFARMING.COM

By Vicky Boyd Editor

W

hen Luis Espino, a University of California Cooperative Extension farm adviser, started seeing significant true armyworm populations in numerous rice fields in 2015, he thought it was likely due to the state’s lingering drought. But when sizable numbers returned in 2016 and much worse again in 2017 — a year of record rainfall — and prompted growers to treat about 100,000 acres, Espino says he had to rethink his theory.

“After the 2015 outbreak, I thought we probably wouldn’t see high population levels again for another 30 years because this is a once-in-a-lifetime type of event,” says Espino, also Colusa County UC Cooperative Extension director.

“They were here again in 2016, and 2017 was worse. So I’m just going to assume they will be back in 2018.”

As it has since 2015, the California Rice Commission this season planned to seek a Section 18 emergency use registration for Intrepid insecticide from DowDuPont.

Espino also plans to continue an armyworm moth trapping network he started last year as well as fine-tune an accompanying degree-day model designed to help predict when larvae may start appearing in rice fields.

Caught by surprise Historically, armyworms have caused small, spotty problems, with growers treating an average of about 5 percent of Sacramento Valley rice acreage annually, Espino says.

Depending on the field location, true armyworm tends to be the predominant species, with the western yellow-striped armyworm less so.

In 2015, armyworms showed up in force in late June, a week or two earlier than when growers and pest control advisers were used to seeing them.

“It’s not a big difference, but I think that contributed to the fact that people weren’t expecting them and it took everybody by surprise,” he says.

By the time the defoliation was visible, the worms were in the fourth or fifth instar. Lambda-cyhalothrin, a go-to

Pyrethroids are ineffective against larger armyworms, such as these in the fifth instar growth stage found in a Glenn County rice field.

TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

Luis Espino, a University of California Cooperative Extension farm adviser, hopes to expand the number of armyworm pheromone traps he had to about 20 this season from seven in 2017.

insecticide for armyworms, will control larvae in the first or second instar but not large, older worms.

Although Dimilin, an insect growth regulator from Chemtura Corp., has a 2ee label recommendation for armyworms in rice, it also has a 80-day pre-harvest interval, making it impractical for all but very early applications or late-maturing rice.

A DowDuPont representative suggested the industry look at Intrepid 2F, says Roberta Firoved, California Rice Commission industry affairs manager. After an armyworm ingests Intrepid, it causes them to molt prematurely, which proves fatal. It is effective on all armyworm larval stages.

In 2015, the commission put together a request for a crisis Section 18 for Intrepid 2F. All Section 18 applications, which must be requested by an entity other than the registrant, are submitted to the California Department of Pesticide Regulation for initial review. If state officials approve it, they forward it to the Environmental Protection Agency. The process takes at least 90 days.

The EPA approved a Section 18 for Intrepid in time for the second flush of armyworms that occurred in August 2015, Firoved says. After the major outbreak, the Rice Commission worked proactively and successfully received Section 18s just in time for early July infestations in 2016 and 2017, she says.

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The commission worked this winter with Espino to collect required data and plans to submit a Section 18 request to CDPR in early March. If all goes well, Firoved says the industry could have the emergency exemption by early June – just before the first worms are expected.

“You have to justify the emergency and provide data including that showing significant economic losses and the lack of effectiveness of the alternatives,” she says.

During 2017, rice growers used Intrepid on about 41,400 acres, lambda-cyhalothrin on about 44,500 acres and Dimilin on about 10,560 acres, according to figures from Espino. The total acreage treated for armyworms comprised slightly less than one-fourth of the state’s 453,000 planted acres.

One of the conditions of a Section 18 is the registrant must pursue a full Section 3 registration, which DowDuPont is, Firoved says. The company is currently collecting residue data from additional tests conducted at the Rice Experiment Station to establish pesticide tolerances on rice.

Armyworm feeding later in the season can cause blanking.

Scouting challenges Although some farmers still were plagued by armyworms in 2016, the season wasn’t nearly as bad as 2015, Espino says.

The pest returned in strong numbers in 2017. One of the challenges with scouting for armyworm is you have to wade out in flooded rice fields, bend over and closely examine leaves for signs of feeding. Even then, early instar larvae may be difficult to see and the damage is minimal because they don’t eat much. But the larvae grow and molt rapidly and in a matter of days can become large worms capable of defoliating rice plants.

“It just happens really quickly,” Espino says. “That’s what seems to get people — they aren’t ready. They don’t see anything during the week.

When they come back Monday, half of the foliage is gone and they are in the fourth or fifth instar, so pyrethroids don’t really work at that stage.”

Josh Sheppard, who farms in Butte County, jokes that his family’s farm was “ground zero” for the 2015 armyworm outbreak. He saw fewer problems in 2016, and armyworms once again were troublesome in 2017 but not to the extent they were in 2015.

“As much as we were looking for them, we wouldn’t actually realize they were there until the plants started to disappear,” Sheppard says about the challenges of scouting for small larvae.

He used Intrepid successfully on about 30 percent of the family’s rice acreage in 2017 and says he was “thankful that the product was available.”

PHOTOS BY LUIS ESPINO, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

Defoliation caused by armyworm feeding along a levee.

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Early warning system During 2017, Espino established a network of seven pheromone traps from south Sutter County to Butte County to monitor male armyworm moth activity.

Although trap catches won’t provide an indication of egg laying, they will alert the industry to increases in the overall moth population. At the same time, Espino was monitoring degree-day models to see how they correlated to trap catches and larval development.

“The degree-day model said in 10 days we’d start seeing fourth-instar larvae,” he says. “We forecast it to the day. A day before, I started getting pictures and calls from PCAs saying they were starting to see large armyworms in the field, so I think it’s pretty good in forecasting. I want to see again this year what type of numbers we will get.”

Espino also hopes to add traps to the system this year to take into account possible microclimates and provide a more complete picture of what’s happening in the Sacramento Valley.

What he envisions is a type of early warning system. Once he starts seeing an increase in moth catches, Espino will put out the word electronically to growers and PCAs to start checking their fields more carefully for small armyworms.

RICEFARMING.COM

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Floods aid expansion Giant invasive snail threatens the rice-crawfish rotation in southwest Louisiana.

By Dustin Harrell

PHOTOS BY DR. DUSTIN HARRELL, LSU AGCENTER

T

he channeled apple snail, a native of South America, is an invasive pest believed to have been introduced into the United States via the aquarium trade. It has been observed for several years in and around rice fields in the production region east and south of Houston, Texas. But now it has been found by at least one southwest Louisiana producer involved with rice-crawfish rotations.

The snails begin small but can grow to the size of a tennis ball. The snails feed on vegetation. However, significant rice stand reductions due to the pest have not been reported. The drill-seeded, delayed-flood rice production system seems to keep the snails out of a rice field when it is most susceptible to feeding and stand reduction.

But the snails are a threat to rice production because they tend to gather in and restrict water flow from irrigation pipes. They also lay large pink egg masses that can further restrict water flow, especially when they attach to the wire mesh some farmers use to keep trash out of the drains.

The snails love to burrow, and the edges of water boxes and overflows seem to be some of their favorite places. This compromises the integrity of rice levees and causes frequent levee

One of many channeled apple snails found in and around a crawfish farm in Acadia Parish, Louisiana.

blowouts. Farmers with the pest are spending more time walking levees and repairing damage caused by the snails.

The pest is not only a nuisance in rice, but it also poses an

Channeled apple snails were separated from the crawfish during harvest. Six to twelve crates were filled each day, and fields were harvested three times per week.

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Crawfish traps were pulled from 220 acres due to the low crawfish catch associated with the channeled apple snail clogging traps.

Acadia Parish Extension agent Jeremy Hebert (left), visiting Australian rice scholar Mark Groat (center), and rice and crawfish farmer Kevin Landry (right) discuss the channeled apple snail problems in rice and crawfish production.

economic threat due to the time and constant repairs to the rice paddy infrastructure.

Snail challenges crawfish farmer The channeled apple snail and their bright pink egg masses have also been seen in Louisiana. Many sightings have been in the southwest rice-production region in and around the Mermentau River Basin. The September 2016 floods caused much of the Mermentau River Basin and connecting bayous to overflow.

This facilitated the widespread and fast movement of the channeled apple snail in the region. Rice and crawfish farmers using surface water from connecting bayous to irrigate are susceptible to introducing the snail into their operations.

This is what happened to an Acadia Parish farmer in Louisiana who irrigates his rice and crawfish fields using water from Bayou Queue de Tortue (Turtle-tail Bayou). He reports that the snail population exploded after the 2016 floods and has been a serious problem for him, especially in his crawfish fields.

The snails are voracious feeders, eating a considerable amount of the vegetation intended for the crawfish. The snails also plagued his crawfish enterprise by entering traps in alarming numbers.

Fishermen had to spend additional time separating snails from crawfish during harvest. He reports the fields were fished three days per week and his fishermen would fill six to 12 crates per day with snails. In addition, the larger snails would actually plug the inlets on a crawfish trap, making it impossible to catch the crustacean. The fishing became so bad because of the snail that the farmer pulled his traps on 220 acres before the last week of January.

This represents a significant economic loss to his crawfish enterprise. For example, average crawfish production on his fields were historically around 500 pounds per acre. Assuming that he TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

Larger snails are big enough to block entry holes in crawfish traps as demonstrated in this photo.

lost approximately 400 pounds of that production this year and assuming an average seasonal price of $1.50, his losses this year due to the channeled apple snail were about $132,000.

Finding chemical control will be challenging Currently, there are no pesticides labeled for removal of the invasive channeled apple snail in crawfish ponds. Molluscicides do exist that will kill the snails, but finding one that will not impact crawfish or other aquatic life will be challenging. It is often joked that the snails could be collected and sold as escargot.

However, since the snail is an invasive pest, it is illegal to collect, sell or transport them. One thing is certain, though — the channeled apple snail poses significant risk to the rice-crawfish rotation in southwest Louisiana.  Dr. Dustin Harrell is Extension rice specialist and research coordinator at the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station in Crowley, Louisiana. He may be reached at DHarrell@ agcenter.lsu.edu.

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New tools in the tool box Several new crop-protection products are available in time for this year’s rice season.

By Bruce Schultz

Cautions with Provisia Webster cautions farmers against mixing Provisia, a grass herbicide, with broadleaf herbicides, especially propanil.

The Provisia herbicide from BASF was less effective about three out of four times when it was mixed with a broadleaf herbicide, he says.

Provisia is to be used with Provisia rice, and it is intended for fields that have severe weedy rice problems that cannot be

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LSU AgCenter rice breeder Adam Famosa discusses his work on varietal development, including advanced Provisia rice lines, at the 2017 Rice Field Day in Crowley.

controlled with Clearfield rice. AgCenter Extension rice specialist Dustin Harrell says Provisia rice needs more nitrogen, and that increases the likelihood of developing blast, so he is recommending two fungicide applications on Provisia rice.

The company that sells AV-1011 bird repellent for seed treatment, Arkion Life Sciences, is offering a rebate for the product this year, Harrell says.

New product updates Farmers also have a new fungicide, Amistar Top, says AgCenter plant pathologist Don Groth.

The product is effective against sheath blight and blast diseases. It also will work against sheath blight that has developed resistance to strobilurin fungicides, he says.

The product is labeled for one or two 15-ounce applications.

“I would recommend using the full labeled rate,” Groth says.

He urges farmers to rotate fungicides.

“If we keep using the same fungicides over and over, we’re going to get resistance, and I don’t have any new material coming down the pipeline,” Groth says.

AgCenter entomologist Blake Wilson says the Mexican rice borer has spread throughout southwest Louisiana, but it has not been found in Avoyelles or Rapides parishes.

“I anticipate it will be in the next few years,” he says.

AgCenter entomologist Sebe Brown says rice water weevils in Arkansas fields have developed resistance to the seed treatment Cruiser from Syngenta Crop Protection.

AgCenter rice breeder Adam Famoso says seed is being increased in Puerto Rico for the second generation of Provisia rice that will have better yield potential than the current release, PVL01.

Famoso also says development of a longgrain conventional variety is underway.

“This is an area we would like to put more emphasis on,” he says.

The hybrid program is making progress, but increasing the seed production of hybrid lines is a challenge.

Bruce Schultz is an assistant communications specialist with the LSU AgCenter in Crowley, Louisiana.

RICEFARMING.COM

VICKY BOYD

W

ith the start of rice planting less than a month away, farmers will have several new crop protection products, including a handful of new herbicides, to use in the upcoming growing season.

LSU AgCenter weed scientist Eric Webster, speaking at recent rice meetings in Mansura and Rayville, Louisiana, says the new herbicide, Loyant from Dow AgroSciences, is effective against grasses and aquatic weeds such as ducksalad. But it will cause injury to young rice in fields that have been recently laser leveled.

A member of the Weed Science Society of America’s Group 4, Loyant contains Rinskor active, the brand name for the active ingredient florpyrauxifen-benzyl.

The new Gambit herbicide from Gowan Co. is good on aquatic weeds, such as alligatorweed, he says. It is a premix of halosulfuron-methyl and prosulfuron.

Another new product, RiceOne from Rice Co., has good residual activity, and it is effective on grasses and broadleaf weeds, he says. But farmers must spray it soon after it is mixed.

“If you stop that sprayer for any reason, it’s not going to take long for it to fall out of solution,” Webster says.

RiceOne is a premix of pendimethalin and clomazone.

The smell of success

Formerly known as 14AR1105, ARoma 17 offers exceptional rough rice yields with good milling quality in a jasmine-type long grain.

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

By Ryan McGeeney

T

he University of Arkansas recently released ARoma 17, a new aromatic long-grain rice that offers exceptional rough rice yields with good milling yields.

Aromatic rices are fragrant varieties that originated in southeast Asia. Jasmine-type rice is especially popular in Thailand as well as in a growing market of American consumers. They are prized for their light, fluffy texture, mellow nutty flavor and floral scent.

Research associate Debra Ahrent Wisdom says ARoma 17 fills a market niche for consumers who enjoy jasmine-type aromatic rices.

Arkansas’ climate doesn’t favor growing Thai jasmine rice. But she says ARoma 17 offers a jasmine-type long grain adapted to the state’s growing conditions.

“ARoma 17 is not intended for the mainstream rice market, and growers should make arrangements with aromatic rice markets before planting,” says Nathan McKinney, assistant director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and interim director of the Rice Research and Extension Center in Stuttgart.

ARoma 17 was developed from a cross TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

made at the Rice Research and Extension Center in 2009 between Jazzman — a Louisiana variety — and PI 597046, germplasm donated to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Introduction and Research program by the International Rice Research Institute in 1994.

The resulting cross was selected for advancement toward commercial release in 2012.

It is the second aromatic rice from the Division of Agriculture rice breeding program, says Karen Moldenhauer, professor of rice breeding and holder of the Arkansas Rice Industry Chair in Variety Development. The first Arkansas aromatic rice was JES, released in 2009, she says.

Agronomic characteristics ARoma 17 averaged 163 bushels per acre over four years in the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials, with 173 bushels per acre in the 2014 state trials. Its four-year average in the multi-state Uniform Regional Rice Nursery was 172 bushels per acre.

Wisdom says milling yields are a little better than Wells. In three years of Arkansas Rice Performance Trials, ARoma

17 averaged 67 percent whole kernel and 71 percent total milled rice.

The plant averages 39.8 inches in height, about an inch shorter than Wells, and matures in about 86 days, approximately the same as Wells. Its grain weight and size is similar to Wells.

ARoma 17 has high straw strength and has better lodging resistance than Wells, Wisdom says.

It also is moderately susceptible to blast and sheath blight, and moderately resistant to bacterial panicle blight. Under high rates of nitrogen fertilization, it is susceptible to false smut.

Breeder and foundation seed for ARoma 17 will be maintained by the Division of Agriculture’s Foundation Seed Program at the Rice Research and Extension Center near Stuttgart. The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station will direct market the variety in late 2018 to rice producers, but foundation seed will not be available for seed producers.

Ryan McGeeney is a content specialist with the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. He may be reached at rmcgeeney@ uaex.edu.

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On the bubble With tight world supplies, an interruption anywhere could likely send prices higher and help U.S. exports.

By Vicky Boyd Editor

Bulls on the horizon?

Heading into the 2018 season, Brothers says tight world supplies paint a potential for continued upward price increases. The U.S. Department of Agriculture in its Feb. 8 report forecast ending world stocks of 140.8 million metric tons. Of that, 94 million is in storage in China and likely poor quality.

“I think we’re on the bubble,” he says. "If we had an interruption any place in the world, I think we would see prices go higher.”

Prices already have increased from $10.40 per hundredweight average market prices for the 2016 crop to a forecast of $12.10$12.90 cwt for the 2017 crop, according to the USDA report.

“We’re in a very tight market, and the market’s trying to decide what to do,” Brothers says.

Iraq has put out a tender to buy U.S. rice. Whether that deal is consummated will depend on price, he says.

Trade agreements and food aid, long supporters of rice ex-

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nce the top rice-exporting country globally in 1980, the United States has since slipped to a distant sixth place where it only has a 7 percent share of world rice trade.

“The rest of the world has increased by almost four-fold since 1980,” says Carl Brothers, senior vice president and chief operations officer of Stuttgart, Arkansas-based Riceland Foods. “This is not healthy for us. Something has to happen because we’re not participating in world trade like we used to.”

That places more importance on domestic markets, where use has increased 92 percent during the same time.

What’s disconcerting to Brothers is the growth of U.S. rice imports, which amounts to about 20 percent of the domestic market or the equivalent of 400,000 acres of production. Most of that is in jasmine-type varieties.

The United States has higher production costs than many other countries, putting its exports at a disadvantage. U.S. rice routinely is $150-$200 per ton higher on a milled basis, he says.

Currently, this country exports between 3 million and 3.5 million metric tons annually, depending on the year. A metric ton is 2,200 pounds.

For the United States to gain back some of its customers, Asian rice price would have to increase substantially more than they have in the past several months, Brothers says.

He presented an overview of markets and the upcoming rice season during an ag update seminar at the recent Mid-South Farm and Gin Show in Memphis, Tennessee.

Eric Unkel (left), president of the Louisiana Rice Council and a Kinder rice producer, chats with Carl Brothers, chief executive officer of Riceland Foods, before the start of an ag update seminar at the recent Mid-South Farm and Gin Show.

ports, continue to be debated at the White House, Brothers says.

Instead of sending food, some are pushing to send monetary aid.

One of the bright spots in exports is Haiti, which continues to buy large amounts of U.S. rice.

The country tried importing lower-priced Vietnamese rice, but consumers wouldn’t accept it because it didn’t have the flavor or mouth feel of U.S. rice. Since then, Brother says, Haiti has refused to buy rice from Vietnam.

Although China has agreed to begin importing U.S. rice, challenges with drafting a phytostanitary agreement that governs pests continues to stall the process.

“I don’t feel very good with us being able to legally ship rice to China any time soon,” he says.

2018 acreage forecast Coming off of the 2017 season, where U.S. growers planted 2.46 million acres, Brothers says he expects rice acres to increase in 2018. Citing Jan. 23 figures from Informa Business Intelligence, he says plantings throughout the Rice Belt are forecast to be 2.655 million, up 8 percent from 2017 but nowhere close to the 3.15 million acres planted in 2016.

Arkansas is expected to plant 1.23 million acres, up from 1.16 million acres in 2017 and a 6 percent increase. California is forecast to plant 500,000 acres; Louisiana, 430,000 acres; Mississippi, 125,000 acres; Missouri, 175,000 acres; and Texas, 195,000 acres.

RICEFARMING.COM

DowDuPont announces new company name

The agricultural division of DowDuPont, the company created when Dow and DuPont merged in 2017, will have a new name this summer – Corteva Agriscience. DowDuPont expects to spin off the ag division by June 1, with the new name becoming effective then, according to a news release.

Corteva brings together DuPont Crop Protection, DuPont Pioneer and Dow AgroSciences. The company will be headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, home of the former DuPont Crop Protection. Sites in Johnston, Iowa, and Indianapolis, Indiana, will serve as global business centers.

For the rice industry, DowDuPont has Loyant, Clincher, Granite, Grasp, Rebel EX, Grasp Xtra and Grandstand herbicides. The company also has Propimax fungicide and Dermacor X-100 insecticidal seed treatment.

Arkansas weed scientist Jason Norsworthy honored for herbicide work

Jason Norsworthy, weed scientist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, was recently honored by his peers as a fellow of the Weed Science Society of America.

Norsworthy was also honored as outstanding researcher of 2018 and was co-author on the work recognized as the outstanding paper on weed technology during the society’s recent annual meeting in Arlington, Virginia, according to a news release.

TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

Chris Meyer, a University of Arkansas doctoral candidate in weed science, was named outstanding grad student. While pursuing his Ph.D., Meyer has been recognized for his academic and extracurricular achievements with awards including the 2015 Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board Ph.D. Fellowship and the 2015 Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food, and Life Sciences Distinguished M.S. Student Award.

“We’re extremely proud of the achievements of our faculty and students,” Robert Bacon, head of the university’s Crop, Soils and Environmental Sciences department, said in the release. “Our weed science group is one of the best in the nation and this week’s recognition from the Weed Science Society of Amer- Jason Norsworthy explains dicamica — the highest in this ba volatility during a 2017 field day at the University of Arkansas’ Keiser field — certainly under- research station. scores that excellence.

“It’s especially rewarding considering the past year, when weed science was on the front page as dicamba made headlines not only around the country and around the world. Jason was one of weed scientists in the glare as he and others had their research scrutinized over and over as the issue drew the attention of media and industry."

Arkansas’ Bob Scott elected head of Southern weed group

University of Arkansas Extension weed scientist Bob Scott was recently named president of the Southern Weed Science Society. He will serve a one-year term and preside over the society’s 2019 meeting in Oklahoma City.

“It’s a great honor to have the opportunity to serve as president of the society,” Scott said recently as he drove back from a speaking engagement in Texarkana, Texas. “When you’re sitting up there with the gavel and realize you’re the president, it’s a little surreal.

It seems like yesterday you were a grad student sitting out there at one of the tables.”

Bob Scott discusses new He joined the society in 1991. rice herbicides at the 2017 Scott says most of his colleagues Rice Expo in Stuttgart, Ar“would tell you they wouldn’t be kansas. where they are today if it wasn’t for the Southern Weed Science Society, which has tremendous professional development opportunities and networking.”

He joined the Arkansas Extension Service in 2002 and is involved in research on multi-stack technology crops in addition to working as director of the Newport Extension Center. Along with colleagues Jason Norsworthy and Tom Barber, Scott has provided research-based advice to the Arkansas State Plant Board and legislative committee meetings.

VICKY BOYD

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has found a reproducing population of nutria, a 20-pound invasive rodent endemic to Louisiana, in the central part of the state. Although the pest has not been confirmed in the rice-producing areas to the north, the extent of the infestation is not yet known, according to a news release.

Since March 30, more than 20 nutria — including males, pregnant females and juveniles — have been found in Fresno, Merced and StanNutria, which resemble superislaus counties. Very little sized muskrats, have been found rice acreage is found in those in central California. counties, with the bulk of California production beginning about 120 miles north of Sacramento.

If allowed to establish, nutria could severely affect California’s resources, causing the loss of wetlands, severe soil erosion, damage to agricultural crops and levees, and reduced stability of banks, dikes and roadbeds, according to the news release.

Nutria also degrade water quality supplies with parasites and diseases transmissible to humans, livestock and pets.

Native to South America, nutria are large, semi-aquatic rodents that reach up to 2.5 feet in body length, 12-inch tail length and 20 pounds in weight. They have distinctive long, orange incisor teeth.

Suspected observations or potential signs of nutria should be photographed and immediately reported to CDFW’s Invasive Species Program online at https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conser vation/Invasives/report, by e-mail to invasives@wildlife.ca.gov or by phone at 866-440-9530.

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

California finds nutria, plans eradication

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VICKY BOYD

Industry News

Specialists Speaking

PHOTOS COURTESY NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE

Be on the lookout for two new watergrass relatives DR. WHITNEY BRIM-DEFOREST CALIFORNIA Extension Agronomist University of California, Davis wbrimdeforest@ucanr.edu Weed control in California rice has become more complicated over the past few years, both due to increasing number of herbicide-resistant weeds as well as new weeds, including weedy rice and for some, winged-primrose willow. Just as we were beginning to think we were going to have a pause in new weed problems, we have a couple of new weed species to look out for this year.

The two species are both in the watergrass/barnyardrass complex (Echinochloa spp). They are both found in rice fields in the southern U.S. rice-growing region. One is called rough barnyardgrass (Echinochloa muricata) and the other is called coast cockspur grass (Echinochloa walteri).

E. muricata is native all over the United States (including California) and has been found around rice fields in California in the past. E. walteri is not native to California but is native to the eastern region of the United States.

E. muricata has been confirmed in California rice fields, and E. walteri is suspected to be present in California rice fields.

They both look similar to barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli), which is commonly found in the state’s rice fields.

The discovery of a new weed species came from a long string of seemingly unrelated events. It began in early 2017, when I summarized the data from the herbicide resistance testing program with the University of California Weed Science group.

I found that over the past several years, we had a large increase in the number of barnyardgrass (E. crus-galli) samples submitted for testing. We went from zero in 2014 to nine in 2015 to 35 in 2016. My colleagues and I speculated about the cause, but we had no clear ideas.

Then at a national weed science conference, I noticed a poster on Echinochloa spp. in rice fields in the Southern United States.

There were two species on the poster, E. walteri and E. muricata, both of which were difficult to distinguish visually from barnyardgrass (E. crus-galli). I looked at the pictures and began to wonder if we might have these species in California rice fields.

Then in the summer of 2017, I received two farm calls from growers in two different counties concerning barnyardgrass that was impossible to control. Both growers had applied many different herbicides with different modes of action that when combined should have provided some control.

However, when I went to visit the fields, it appeared that the weeds were not even touched by the herbicides. At heading, the growers and pest control advisers (PCAs) for the corresponding fields collected plant specimens, which we sent to the University of California, Davis, Herbarium.

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Echinochloa muricata,(left) also known as rough barnhardgrass, has been confirmed in California rice fields. And E. walteri, also known as coast cockspur grass, is suspected to be present in California rice fields.

They confirmed that we did indeed have E. muricata in both fields. The infestation was widespread throughout both fields, not patchy, indicating that it had likely been there for a number of years.

To get an initial idea of how widespread these two weed species are, we have grown out all of the submitted samples from the past several years to have them identified.

We also plan to do some genetic testing to determine if there is a non-visual way to distinguish between the three species (E. crus-galli, E. muricata and E. walteri).

We suspect, but have not yet confirmed, that these species may be tolerant to many of our rice herbicides. We are conducting further tests.

For now, we are asking all growers and PCAs to be on the lookout for these two species in 2018. In particular, if there is a large amount of Echinochloa spp. remaining in the field after all herbicides have been applied, it will be important to get the plants identified.

Please give your local UC rice adviser a call.

Drift trials can help growers decide whether to keep an injured rice field or replant DR. BOBBY GOLDEN MISSISSIPPI Extension Rice Specialist bgolden@drec.msstate.edu Early season rice injury due to off-target preemergence soybean herbicides has been a continual issue in the Mississippi Delta over the past several years. In the past, most of the early season issues centered on glyphosate drift, but with the evoluRICEFARMING.COM

Specialists Speaking tion of resistant palmer amaranth, a shift has been observed to paraquat mixtures with residual herbicides.

Off-target drift occurs from numerous soybean residual herbicide chemistries, and proper identification is needed to determine if the rice crop can be kept or should be replanted. Since 2015, graduate student Ben Lawrence has been working with Jason Bond to determine how numerous soybean herbicides influence the rice crop’s growth and develop. In a two-part study, Ben has evaluated paraquat applied alone or in combination with residual chemistries at multiple rice growth stages.

To date, Ben’s research has shown that rice injury from paraquat was greater than 40 percent regardless of application time (spiking rice to panicle differentiation) 14 days after application.

His research shows injury remained up to 28 days after application from treatments that contained only paraquat.

Across all treatment timings, delays in rice maturity were greater than six days but ranged up to two weeks when applications were made during reproductive growth stages. This data is important because delays in maturity result in added expense in rice inputs to finish off the crop.

The greatest yield loss occurred with rice damaged during reproductive growth (12 bushels per acre). Yield losses to rice exposed to paraquat between spiking and one leaf were 7 bushels per acre. In the tankmixture study, metribuzin or fomesafen applied alone resulted in less than 10 percent rice injury.

However, when these herbicides were tankmixed with paraquat, injury increased to 58 and 68 percent for fomesafen and metribuzin, respectively, at two weeks after application. In these trials, yield was reduced up to 28 percent compared to untreated rice, with mixtures resulting in similar yield loss.

Keeping a crop or replanting after a drift event is always a

Choices, choices, choices: Consider all the variables SAM ATWELL

MISSOURI Agronomy Specialist atwells@missouri.edu It’s time to finalize early season weed control decisions in Missouri rice.

These decisions depend on already selected choices of several systems, such as furrow-irrigated, paddy-flooded, water-seeded, Clearfield, Provisia, hybrids or conventional rice.

Then there’s weed history, soil types, soil preparation, burn-downs, irrigation well efficacy, adjacent crops and neighbors. New in 2018 are four rice herbicides — RiceOne, Loyant, Gambit and the Provisia system — to go along with a list of old reliable ones.

So there’s lots to talk about with your team, consultant, dealer and banker. I like to minimize risk by having a TWITTER: @RICEFARMING

judgment call, depending on crop growth stage, how much of the field is affected and stand loss. However, research like Ben’s, gives us data to help make that decision by allowing us to have an indication on rice performance after the event occurs.

Delays in rice maturity in the early season can result in added herbicide, fertilizer and irrigation expense that must be taken into account with planting date data to determine the best solution moving forward.

An early herbicide mistake can plague you all season DR. M.O. “MO” WAY and DR. MUTHU BAGAVANTHIANNIN TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY We know some of you do a lot of fall/ winter tillage to control weeds. However, a spring burndown herbicide application or tillage just prior to seeding can help achieve a clean seedbed. Practicing a stale seedbed can also help reduce the weed seedbank and lead to less weed pressure into the season.

We recommend applying a residual pre-emergence herbicide, such as clomazone, to give you prolonged early season weed control. This is important because research has shown that not controlling weeds in the first few weeks of crop emergence can lead to substantial yield loss.

full-season plan now, starting clean and staying under control throughout the season.

Choices are a wonderful gift from God, and rice farmers are blessed with more than most and too many to discuss here. I’ll reiterate: read, study, talk to your dealer and company reps, converse with your entire team, pick and choose a system, and then match the herbicides that fit best.

These new products have new chemistries or new combinations of old chemistries that may cause them to have new concerns with activity and carry-over. So make sure you read the label, learn all the precautions and restrictions, and pass this information on to all your staff.

Jim Heiser, University of Missouri weed researcher, presented his latest rice weed control research at our recent Missouri Rice Production meeting at the Malden Community Center.

His talk included specific work with Gambit post herbicide on hard-to-control sedges that plague many Missouri rice fields, especially on our heavy clay soils. All of these new herbicides can be beneficial in Missouri rice production. We suggest you use a well-designed weed control program with multiple modes of action by taking advantage of residual herbicides followed by post-emergence herbicides that fit your chosen system.

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Specialists Speaking Once you apply your pre-emerge, activate it with a flush or rain (if you are lucky) ASAP. About 0.5 to 1 inch of rain/irrigation should be sufficient for activation. This ensures you get the most activity from your herbicide.

Remember, soil organic matter and clay can tie up herbicides, so use rates per label instructions, specific to your soil type and situation. Sandier soils do not tie up as much herbicide, so be careful on sandy soils or severe rice injury may occur.

Last year, I experienced herbicide phytotoxicity to rice in one of my experimental blocks because I used too high a rate of clomazone for our soil type. The rice never fully recovered, which was reflected in atypically low yields.

This shows that a mistake with an early applied herbicide can affect your crop all the way to harvest. If you are going to ground-apply your pre-emergence herbicide, double check your rate calculations, calibrate your spray rig correctly, and make sure all your nozzles and other spray equipment are in top-notch shape and clean. If you make a mistake at this early stage, trouble simply compounds itself through the growing season.

The same is true for planting equipment. One farmer told me several years ago that he started planting and noticed one of his

drill rows was lacking seed. When he checked (after planting a couple acres), he found a mud dauber nest clogging the opening.

Such planting issues will lead to poor rice stands in the field, which will allow more weeds to show up. Dense rice stands, on the other hand, can outcompete weeds for light, nutrients, water and space. Thus, obtaining a dense, healthy rice stand is an important step in early season weed control.

You can achieve this through varietal selection, seeding rate, proper fertilization and timely irrigation. For instance, applying a relatively early permanent flood can help with weed control and reduce potential water stress to your crop.

Also, you should take good notes regarding the weed history of each field so you can tailor your weed management program to the projected weed problems you most likely will encounter.

Here is where I put in a plug for hiring a crop consultant, who can do this for you…in consultation with you.

Finally, I’m not sure if I have a good answer to the following situation I have observed several times: A field is about to go to permanent flood and is relatively weed-free. Should the farmer apply a pre-flood herbicide(s)? If any reader has a good answer, please contact me at 409-658-2186 or moway@aesrg.tamu.edu.

Spend money wisely up front to save on costs later COURTESY MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY

DR. JARROD HARDKE ARKANSAS Asst. Professor/Rice Extension Agronomist University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service jhardke@uaex.edu While front-loading expenses at the beginning of the season can be difficult to deal with, it’s a wise investment to protect your overall bottom line. Beyond seed selection, the use of seed treatments and residual herbicides are our best options for starting the season off right and targeting our highest potential grain yield.

Insecticide and fungicide seed treatments provide the greatest opportunity for us to establish our desired stand. The insecticides in CruiserMaxx Rice and NipsIt INSIDE provide us with the ability to withstand early season problems from grape colaspis and are good against rice water weevil. However, Dermacor is excellent for rice water weevil but is weak against grape colaspis, which is a considerable problem for many of our lighter rice soils in Arkansas.

Fungicide seed treatment packages also help protect the crop from the seedling disease complex, which is always of concern during cooler, wetter springs. CruiserMaxx Rice contains multiple fungicides, and NipsIt Suite, which adds a fungicide package to NipsIt INSIDE, is now available.

Multiple fungicides, such as in those two products, are best

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RICE FARMING

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MARCH 2018

Insecticide and fungicide seed treatments, such as those on the far left and right, provide the greatest opportunity for us to establish our desired stand.

to protect us from the range of pathogens that attack seedling rice.

Leading off the season with a strong residual herbicide program provides the best chance to keep overall herbicide costs down. Fortunately in rice, there are a range of options depending on your weeds of greatest concern.

Starting clean with a burndown and residuals allows us to stay in front of early weed competition. Following that application a few weeks later with an additional application of residual herbicides can, in the right years, allow us to get to flood without spending much on more costly post-emergence herbicides.

There are always problems that arise and may need the addition of a post application, but overlapping residuals can help to minimize this on many fields.

Spend your money wisely up front to save on costs later.

RICEFARMING.COM

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CEO Irrigation Expert Wildlife Manager Public Relations

Chief of Security

Deputy Dog

Des Woods knows rice and a whole lot more.

He also knows he can trust his partners at RiceTec. Even farmers with decades of experience rely on their RiceTec field reps from planting to harvest and beyond. We take pride in being a true partner when farmers like Des need our advice the most.

Of course, we also take pride in offering the highest-yielding long-grain rice in America.

XP yield advantage vs.

Roy J ( years)

Gemini CL yield advantage vs.

CL ( years)

To find your local RiceTec representative, call 877.580.7423 • RiceTec.com

These statements are not a guarantee of performance, nor do they constitute a warranty of fitness for a particular use.

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