The LSU AgCenter has released two new rice varieties for seed production in 2008. Both varieties were developed at the Rice Research Station located near Crowley.

The recent USA Rice Outlook Conference, held in Orlando, Florida, provided an excellent overview on the current state of affairs in the rice industry. Successful rice research can have positive benefits for Louisiana rice producers regardless of where it is conducted.

Quarterly safety meetings are held at the Rice Research Station. The briefs of these meetings are viewable below.

The 2007 Louisiana rice crop is out of the field for the most part. While a few fields of second crop remain to be harvested, the harvest season is pretty much completed.

Louisiana rice producers are at the mercy of the weather of our state which can sometimes be detrimental to the crop even in the absence of hurricanes.

A potential new rice insect pest has been identified in the United States. The insect has been identified as the rice panicle mite Steneotarsonemus spinki, Smiley.

The 2007 Rice Research Station’s Field Day was held on June 28 under pleasant weather conditions; especially for south Louisiana in late June. There was a large and attentive crowd who had the opportunity to take the field tour and see and hear the latest technology in rice production as a result of research conducted at this facility.

The objective of the Rice Pathology Project is to develop an integrated disease management program that effectively and economically reduces rice diseases. This project is headed by Dr. Don Groth.

The LSU AgCenter Rice Genetics Project is dedicated to improving the Louisiana rice industry through cooperative research projects with scientists at the Rice Research Station and on the LSU Baton Rouge campus. This project is headed by Dr. Jim Oard.

The research activities of this station include both fundamental and applied research, although the latter predominates because of the mission of the Rice Research Station. Research accomplishments and general progress of the Rice Station are presented in this report representing the 98th Annual Research Report of the Rice Research Station, Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, LSU Agricultural Center.