NEWS AND REGIONAL FIELD REPORTS

Thanks For Another Great Field Day! Plus The Latest News From The Field.

June 27, 2024

South Louisiana

Thanks to everyone who attended our Horizon Ag Louisiana Field Day earlier this week. We had a big turnout for the event and it’s always great to see growers, consultants and our industry friends come together to talk about the latest developments impacting Louisiana rice. This year, it was particularly exciting to share how varieties like PVL03, CLL19 and other elite Horizon Ag rice lines are standing out in fields throughout the region.

I especially want to thank our guest speakers – Dr. Ronnie Levy, Louisiana state rice specialist, Dr. Connor Webster, LSU AgCenter rice extension weed specialist and Dr. Adam Famoso, LSU associate professor and AgCenter rice breeder. Attendees got to hear Dr. Famoso discuss the LSU AgCenter’s new collaborative rice breeding agreement with Horizon Ag and be introduced to Dr. María Guadalupe Montiel, our recently hired rice breeder.

And, as always, a special thanks goes to Julie and Christian Richard for hosting our event again this year.

Looking at the region’s rice crop, although the weather has been favorable for development, disease pressure doesn’t seem to be high. Still, fungicide applications have been going out. Remember that the later-planted rice will need to have fungicide treatments applied a little earlier than earlier-seeded rice.

Several fields are beginning to be drained and I believe we are only about 10 days away from harvesting rice in a handful of fields. It will likely ramp up rapidly by the middle of July. Let’s hope that we have a successful and uneventful harvest to finish out the year.

Corey Conner District Field Representative (337) 249-9523

---

Texas

Rice is progressing very well with ample sunlight and temperatures. We are in reproductive growth across the board with about 60% of the crop at heading. Some early fields are approaching the draining stage and we expect rice harvest to begin over the next two to three weeks. The crop has been clean and looks to have high yield potential.

North Louisiana

The rice crop is starting to pick up in this region, with many growers applying permanent flood and spraying post-emergence herbicides. As in Texas, the combination of heat and sunlight has really helped rice advance over the past month.

Hunter Brown District Field Representative (337) 546-7288

---

Northeast Arkansas and Missouri

Wet weather during the month of May presented many challenges in fertilizer applications, herbicide applications and getting levees pulled to go to flood. Growers managed the circumstances the best they could, and although the rice crop is not perfect, the majority appears to still have a very good opportunity to make high yields.

Mid-season nitrogen applications started at the beginning of the month and the hot June weather has caused the crop to progress quickly. Along with crop’s progression, there have been instances of grass pushing through the canopy, but this was to be expected with our conditions for non-optimum herbicide applications in certain areas.

Our first rice could be harvested around mid-August, which is historically a little early for my territory. Although I have heard mention of some blast, there have been no major outbreaks of disease thus far. Besides the expected heat we will get the remainder of the summer, if we can dodge any major weather events we will have a very good rice crop soon.

Last week I took part in session two of the Rice Leadership Development Program and got to see a lot of rice throughout Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi, as well as tour the John Deere facility in Moline, IL.

Although I am very familiar with these rice-growing regions, I have found there is always something new to learn or someone new to meet in the rice industry, and so was the case on this trip. I was able to see some beautiful CLL18 and CLL19 rice fields as we traveled from state to state. It was a fantastic experience amongst a lot of great leaders in our industry and I would recommend that anyone in the rice industry, and who is between the ages of 25 and 45, consider applying for the program. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the generous sponsors – American Commodity Company, RiceTec and John Deere – who make this program possible.

As always, please feel free to call me with any questions you might have.

Jason Satterfield Senior District Field Representative (901) 347-9715

---

Follow Horizon Ag Social

Check out the Horizon Ag Facebook and Instagram pages for industry news, product updates and good conversations about rice and the industry. We’d like you to join our “community” as we share the latest from rice country.