Because of its Puerto Rican connection, the Rice Research Station breeding program squeezes three seasons out of a year, accelerating the process of developing new rice varieties. This is the nursery at LaJas, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Bruce Schultz)

The Rice Station hosts a field day every year in June. (Photo by Bruce Schultz)

Rice harvest. (Photo by Bruce Schultz)

For 100 years, the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station has been 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. Click here for a video about the history and research of the Rice Research Station.

This year’s field day on July 1 will cap the centennial celebration of the facility’s existence. Read more about the field day.

“This is a celebration of the past 100 years, and we’re going to have more of a historical perspective,” said Steve Linscombe, the station’s director. “Farmers and the general public will get a glimpse of how far agriculture in southwest Louisiana has advanced since 1909.”

One stop on the field day's tour includes a demonstration plot of the 42 varieties bred at the station since its founding. Varieties from the station have dominated the southern rice growing region for several decades.

“One of the most visible changes in rice farming is the reduction in height and maturity of rice,” Linscombe said.

Earlier varieties grew as tall as 60 inches and required 150 days for maturity, Linscombe said, compared to modern varieties with heights of 40-45 inches and 115 days from planting to harvest.

Developments in controlling insects, disease and weeds, and in agronomic practices also will be shown on the field tour.

Research Funding
Funding for research includes a major donation 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.

“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.”

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. By using the Clearfield technology developed at the Rice Research Station, farmers can finally have a better way to control red rice, and they can produce rice in a more environmentally friendly manner.

Spreading Research Information
County agents are on the front lines fighting the battles with farmers, and they rely on the station to help provide information to farmers.

Keith Fontenot, LSU AgCenter county agent in Evangeline Parish, said the station helps producers by researching techniques and materials. “The station provides proven tools for the farmers to use and not have to wonder what will work."

“Through station and off-station tests, researchers have tried it, know what the results will be, and work together with county agents and local industry personnel to get the proven results out to farmers,” Fontenot said.

Fontenot said the station is relied upon as an unbiased source.

“They have no product to sell, and nothing to promote. The researchers, like the county agents, are in the business of helping the producers be as productive as possible, in an environmentally friendly and safe way.”

Farmers Rely on Rice Station
Jeffrey Sylvester said the 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. Research by the Rice Station saves farmers time and money.

“They’re always experimenting with things so we don’t have to try it in the fields. The information they give us keeps us up-to-date.”

Kevin Berken, who farms with his brothers in Jefferson Davis Parish, 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.”

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 directed by Johnny Saichuk, LSU AgCenter rice specialist, has been a big help at Angelina, Ellett said.

Rice Verification Program
The Rice Verification Program was started in 1998 to help LSU AgCenter specialists confirm under real-world conditions their recommendations for rice production. Certain farms are selected each year to participate. The farmer must agree to follow the recommendations and receive weekly visits from AgCenter personnel.

“The program helps us identify areas where we need more research,” Saichuk said.

“What we’re basically seeing is about a 600-pound increase per acre in the verification fields for the parishes in the program,” Saichuk said. “The program so far has been doing real well in helping us determine what is needed to produce maximum yields.”

Puerto Rican Connection
Because of its Puerto Rican connection, the Rice Research Station breeding program squeezes three seasons out of a year, accelerating the process of developing new rice varieties.

Without the nursery program at LaJas, Puerto Rico, the breeding program would only be able to grow one generation of rice a year.

In late July or early August, seed from the first generation of a new rice breeding population is harvested at the station, then planted in Puerto Rico for harvest in early December. Seed from desirable plants in that crop also are planted in Puerto Rico shortly after that harvest. This second Puerto Rican planting is then harvested in April, and seed are brought back to the Rice Research Station for planting the following summer. It’s possible to have enough seeds to start yield tests at the Rice Research Station in two years after a cross is made, Linscombe said.

“We can cut three years off the time it takes to develop a new variety,” Linscombe said.

The LSU AgCenter established the nursery in the early 1970s in a cooperative agreement with the University of Puerto Rico. Others have joined in the endeavor, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Texas A&M, University of Arkansas and Mississippi State University.

Impact
Numerous tangible advancements have been developed at the station:

• Scientists at the Rice Research Station developed the Clearfield rice technology. Its herbicide resistance allows farmers to spray fields to kill red rice, a wild form of rice that reduces yield and quality of a crop. Since its introduction in 2001, Clearfield rice has been grown on millions of acres of red rice infested rice fields and allowed producers to harvest better yields and higher quality crops on those acres. In addition, this technology has allowed produces to change cultural practices which have led to improvements in soil conservation and water quality.
• Nearly all of the rice grown in Louisiana was developed at the LSU AgCenter’s Rice Research Station in Crowley. Rice production contributed $550 million to the state’s economy in 2008.
• 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 on more than 60 percent of the rice acres in those states.
• The Rice Research Station’s Foundation Seed program has produced more than 16 million pounds of seed from 41 varieties since it started in 1949. The program uses a dryer system with eight bins, each 21 feet in diameter, and a state-of-the-art 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 each year.
• Research conducted at the research station has led to dramatic improvements in the control of rice diseases, weeds as well as insect pests. Several new and improved pesticides have been labeled in recent years and much of the research that led to these registrations were conducted on the research station.

The LSU AgCenter is one of 11 institutions of higher education in the Louisiana State University System. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, it provides educational services in every parish and conducts research that contributes to the economic development of the state. The LSU AgCenter does not grant degrees nor benefit from tuition increases. The LSU AgCenter plays an integral role in supporting agricultural industries, enhancing the environment, and improving the quality of life through its 4-H youth, family and community programs.

(This lead was updated by Linda Benedict on June 24, 2009.)