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. In general, it was a good year for rice production. The U.S. Department of Agriculture numbers predict that the average per-acre yield for the state will be the highest ever. If we don’t reach that level, it will be fairly close. The cropping season started out with milder than normal temperatures in March when much of the rice in south Louisiana is planted. This early-planted rice had excellent conditions for germination and stand establishment. Unfortunately, unseasonably low temperatures on April 7 and 8 (in the mid to upper 30s) set this early rice back, and it took the crop a long time to recover and start growing again. However, these cool conditions did not appear to have had any long-term effect on the crop.

Climatic conditions during the rice growing season were, for the most part, very good after the early April cold spell. There was adequate but not excessive rainfall, and the rainfall events came in a timely manner in most areas. There were many days of limited cloud cover, which maximizes radiant energy. This is good for rice growth and development. Weather conditions were favorable in the first part of the harvest period, but excessive rainfall later made getting the crop out of the field a trying experience for many rice producers. At the end of the day, most of our producers had an above-average yield. While the yields of some of the later-planted fields fell off as it always does, the drop-off for many fields was not as severe as we see in some growing seasons.

Rice milling quality is almost as important as yield because the price a producer will receive for his crop in highly dependent on this factor. The most important factor here is what is referred to as head rice or whole grain milling yields. In simple terms, this is the percentage of the harvest that remains as whole (unbroken) grains after the rice has been milled. If a rice lot mills 65 percent, this means that if you start out with 100 lb of dried rough rice, after the hulls and bran are removed in the milling process, you end up with 65 lb of milled whole grains.

There are many factors that influence the milling yield. In addition to varietal differences in the characteristics, one important factor is the grain moisture percentage at harvest. We normally will begin to harvest rice at 20 percent grain moisture. As the moisture percentage falls in the field prior to harvest, this will normally have a negative impact on whole grain milling yields. Therefore, a field of rice harvested at 20 percent grain moisture may produce a 65 percent milling yield. If harvest is delayed, however, and that field is not harvested until the grain moisture is 14 percent, the milling may be 55 percent or lower. Most of the 2007 rice crop produced average milling yields. In a number of lots, however, the milling yields were much lower than expected. In some instances, this could be explained by low harvest moisture. In other cases this was not a factor, and the cause is difficult to figure out.

While yields and quality were good for many producers, the 2007 crop was probably the most expensive ever to produce. Rice production uses a large amount of fossil fuels. Wells and pumps are needed to keep fields flooded, and everyone is aware of the price of diesel. Rice production also requires fertilizer, and the price of fertilizer (especially nitrogen) is highly dependent on the price of natural gas. The prices for these commodities don’t look like they will decrease in the short term, so this will have a major influence on the amount of rice planted in 2008.

The rice acreage in Louisiana in 2007 was approximately 370,000 acres, which was an increase of about 30,000 from 2006. Much of this increase was in Vermilion and Cameron parishes where acreage was reduced in 2006 because of the high salt levels in many fields associated with the storm surge from Hurricane Rita in 2005. Most of these fields should be available for rice production in 2008.

While the prices our producers receive for there rice crop has moved up recently, it is still a very expensive crop to produce. The price expectation for the 2008 crop will have to increase a great deal more before we see a substantial increase in acres planted to this important crop.

Permission granted by B. Leonards, Louisiana Farm and Ranch (11-06-2007) to republish this article.