| | The Rice Research Station participated in a study of “golden” rice, which is the rice fortified withVitamin A to help with nutrition deficiencies in countries where rice is a primary food staple. (Photo by Bruce Schultz) |
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Nearly all of the rice grown in Louisiana was developed at the LSU AgCenter’s Rice Research Station in Crowley. The world’s first herbicide-resistant rice, which helps Louisiana producers fight the weeds that historically have plagued their rice, was discovered here. Rice production contributed nearly $324 million to the state’s economy in 2004.
The LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station, founded in 1909, has a long history of conducting research and developing new rice varieties that benefit the rice industry in Louisiana as well as other states. Rice farmers in Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi and Missouri rely heavily on rice varieties developed at the station.
“The Rice Research Station is among the premier research organizations in the world devoted to rice,” said David Boethel, LSU AgCenter vice chancellor for research. “It has an international reputation excelling in all phases of rice culture – breeding and variety development, pest management, fertilization and physiology.”
Funding for research includes a major share from Louisiana rice farmers themselves. They voluntarily pay a check-off fee of 5 cents per hundredweight, which goes into a fund distributed through the Louisiana Rice Research Board. Established in 1972, this board has provided more than $30 million to aid LSU AgCenter research.
“We would not be in the rice business today had it not been for the hard work at the rice station,” said John Denison, rice farmer from Iowa, La., and founding member of the Rice Research Board. “The 1990s and the early 21st Century have been dominated by the rice breeding and rice farming technology developed at the station.”
The two most important technologies in recent years of rice farming, herbicide-resistant varieties of Clearfield and Liberty Link, were developed at the station.
Clearfield was used on almost 25 percent of rice acreage in Louisiana during the 2004 growing year. Liberty Link has yet to be released.
Herbicide resistance allows farmers to spray for weeds without harming the rice. The No. 1 weed problem for rice growers is red rice, a close relative of commercial rice. Because of Clearfield, farmers can now plant in fields that have historically been riddled with red rice, and they can grow the rice more efficiently.
Farmers Rely on Rice Station
Jeffrey Sylvester said Rice Research Station’s breeding program is the station’s most significant asset for his farming operation in St. Landry Parish where he grows rice with his brothers.
“They’re always experimenting with things so we don’t have to try it in the fields. The literature they give us keeps us up-to-date on what’s going on.”
Kevin Berken, who farms with his brothers in Jefferson Davis Parish, said the Rice Station keeps them up-to-date on fertilizer and chemical applications.
Berken said the station’s varieties have boosted yields in the past three decades, from a standard of 25 barrels to more than 40 barrels in a normal year. “And we don’t have near the problems we had with red rice 30 years ago.”
County agents are on the front lines fighting the battles with farmers, and they rely on the station to help provide information to farmers.
Eddie Eskew, LSU AgCenter county agent in Jefferson Davis Parish, said it’s essential that extension agents have the support of good researchers.
Rice farmer Tommy Ellett of Angelina Plantation near Ferriday said he depends on recommendations from the AgCenter on fertilizers, pesticides and variety selections. In addition, Ellett said, Angelina buys foundation seed from the Rice Research Station to grow seed rice.
Ellett said he has confidence in the AgCenter’s advice because the information is based on sound research.
“We depend heavily on the non-biased opinion of LSU,” he said.
Demonstration plots at Angelina show how new varieties will grow in the Angelina Plantation soil. That’s important because the climate, soil and insects differ from what exists at the station, he said.
The verification program under Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist, has been a big help at Angelina, Ellett said.
Impact
- Scientists at the Rice Research Station developed the Clearfield long-grain rice variety. Its herbicide resistance allows farmers to spray fields to kill red rice, an undesired plant that lowers the quality of a crop. Clearfield was planted on approximately 500,000 acres in southern rice-growing states, only two years after it was released for commercial production. A new version, Clearfield 131, was released in 2005 for seed production.
- Varieties developed at the Rice Research Station dominate the acreage planted in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Louisiana. During the past decade, Louisiana varieties were planted in 63 percent of the rice in those states. In 2003, Louisiana varieties were planted on 35 percent of the rice grown in Arkansas, 80 percent of the Mississippi rice acreage, 92 percent of the Texas acreage, 59 percent of Missouri acreage and 97 percent of Louisiana acreage.
- The Rice Research Station’s Foundation Seed program has produced 14.8 million pounds of seed from 36 varieties since it started in 1949. The program uses a dryer system with eight bins, each 21 feet in diameter, and a processing facility built at the station in 1996.
- Scientists at the station plant a total of approximately 10,000 research plots and more than 100,000 progeny rows in variety development activities.
(This article appeared in the summer 2005 issue of Louisiana Agriculture.) |