Arkansas Rice Update 4-22-22

by Jarrod Hardke, Rice Extension Agronomist - April 22, 2022

Arkansas Rice Update 2022-05

April 22, 2022

Jarrod Hardke, Scott Stiles, and Tommy Butts

“I just turned and walked away, I had nothing left to say, ‘cause you’re still the same.”

Further Rain Delay

Jarrod Hardke

If you don’t have anything nice to say, you can sit next to me.  The mid-week rain brought even more than we bargained for, eliminating most all chances of planting anything before the next forecast rain chance.  Sunday night through Monday night look tough yet again.  If conditions open after that, a good run can take us a long way in planting progress.  However, our most similar recent years (2013, 2014, 2019, 2020) never did allow a huge wide-open run.  Some other years have allowed 30-40% jumps in just a week, but it would be unique if we were allowed that this year.

Where we actually stand now, as of Monday 4/18, is just 9% planted.  That number may be slightly higher in the upcoming 4/25 report, but it will change very little.  On Monday (4/25) the report will be for Week 16 of the year.  Looking back in time, if we are around or just over 10% planted, the next closest year for that low in Week 16 is 2008 at 16%, 1997 at 19%, and 1993 at 6%.  That means we’re currently looking at the slowest planting progress since 1993.  Since 2008 we’ve never been below 23% planted at this point in the season.

So, again, nothing nice to say.  Remaining hopeful we can head into May on a planting run though.

Table 1.  U.S. Rice Planting Progress, 2022.

Source:  USDA-NASS.

Rice Yield Potential by Planting Date

Jarrod Hardke

Looking at planting progress, most everyone has a lot of rice left to plant.  With more rain in the immediate forecast, the last few days of April may be our first chance to really get going.  So, as we stare at moving into May, it’s time to talk about performance by planting date.

Figures 1 and 2 show the percent of optimal grain yield for selected cultivars across a range of planting dates in 2020-2021 at Stuttgart (Rice Research & Extension Center) and Colt (Pine Tree Research Station).  Figures 3 and 4 show the same data but instead grouped into categories of long-grain (LG) varieties, medium-grain (MG) varieties, and LG hybrids.  These groupings help to show more general trends that are often the topic of conversation.

Picking the right cultivar is the first step as we get later, but also timely management becomes more critical.  A rapid accumulation of DD50 units (heat) means we have fewer days to accomplish management tasks, and risk of yield loss increases if we aren’t timely.

Fig. 1.  Percent of optimum grain yield by planting date for selected cultivars from small-plot planting date studies at Stuttgart, AR.

Fig. 2.  Percent of optimum grain yield by planting date for selected cultivars from small-plot planting date studies at Colt, AR.

Fig. 3.  Percent of optimum grain yield by planting date for long-grain (LG) varieties, medium-grain (MG) varieties, and LG hybrids from small-plot planting date studies at Stuttgart, AR.

Fig. 4.  Percent of optimum grain yield by planting date for long-grain (LG) varieties, medium-grain (MG) varieties, and LG hybrids from small-plot planting date studies at Colt, AR.

Residual Herbicides and Wet Ground

Tommy Butts

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day!  Our wet conditions continue to bog down our rice progress so far in 2022, and with that hinder our weed control efforts as well.  Not only have burndown applications been challenging to make sure we can still get appropriate coverage, low temperatures and dodging showers within rainfast periods has been a struggle to maximize our chemical effectiveness.  In addition, because of the excess of water, we are now running into issues with applying our residual herbicides.

For the majority of our residual herbicide products, it is against the label to apply the chemical into standing water.  But outside of just label requirements, it is best practice to avoid spraying these herbicides in standing water or even fully saturated soils for 3 additional reasons: 1. Environmental stewardship, 2. Reductions in herbicide effectiveness, and 3. Increases in rice injury potential.

Most of our herbicides are water soluble, and as such, readily move with water flow.  This can lead to downstream contamination of sensitive areas when any of our standing water may try to move off our fields.  Additionally, other off-target movement potential such as volatility, may increase in these areas of saturation.

Saturated conditions will also decrease the performance of many of our residual herbicides.  Weed control may be reduced due to movement of the herbicide outside of our treated area or the dilution effect.  As an example, a warning of this potential is even provided directly on the Prowl H2O label: “If soil is saturated at the time of application, allow the soil surface to dry before restoring the permanent flood.  Prowl H2O requires alternate wetting/drying cycles to be activated.  Weed control will be reduced if the soil surface is not allowed to dry out before restoration of the permanent flood.”

Conversely, some herbicides may have extreme enhanced activity, resulting in severe crop injury potential.  For example, from the Bolero herbicide label dealing with water-seeded rice (which with our heavy saturated conditions is partially comparable): “If rain should occur after soil preparation, Bolero 8 EC Herbicide should not be applied until the soil is dry enough to support tillage operations… Rice in areas which do not completely drain when the seeding flood is removed may be injured or killed.”

Overall, having fully saturated conditions or standing water is not a good time to be applying our residual herbicides.  Especially with current weather forecasts indicating we may be receiving even more rain in the very near future, prolonging the length of time of these saturated conditions exist.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. And as always, good luck out there.

Rice Market Update

Scott Stiles

It has been an interesting week for the September contract.  The week’s 96-cent trading range was captured in Tuesday’s wild session, which included a new contract high of $17 and a low trade of $16.04.  From a chart perspective, Tuesday’s trading range gave the impression of a market top.  However, the September contract has managed to negate this idea with a higher close both Wednesday and Thursday.  In Thursday’s Export Sales reporting, long-grain rough rice sales reached an 8-week high last week of 32,656 tons.  Nearly all of that was a single sale to Mexico.

Of interest, the $17 mark is the highest trade for the September contract since October 2011.

CBOT September Rice Futures, 15-Year Monthly Continuation.

Fundamentally, the new crop contracts are supported by the slow planting progress in the Midsouth.  As of April 17, Arkansas was just 9% planted compared to the 5-year average of 34%.  Mississippi was 11% planted and Missouri was 1% planted.  Normally, the two states would have 20 to 30% planted at this point.  Little, if any, field work occurred this week.  More rain chances are in the outlook for Sunday and Monday.  A huge question mark hangs over Midsouth rice acres, especially when looking at all angles:  the planting delays, diesel futures trading near $4, soybeans above $15.  You have to be an optimist and consider the potential the rice market holds.   

Fertilizer Prices

Over the last three weeks, New Orleans (NOLA) barge prices for urea have been trending lower.  The nitrogen market is trying to determine if this late surge in corn prices will buy back some acres.  The weather is interfering though as the key “I” states had zero corn planted as of Monday.  Following the March 31 planting intentions, new crop corn has rallied over 90 cents.  FYI.  Most of Arkansas reaches the corn prevent plant date on Monday, April 25^th.

Fertilizer Prices, U.S. Gulf ($/ton).

Sources: Argus, Fertecon CRU, ICIS, Green Markets, Mosaic.

DD50 Rice Management Program is Live

The DD50 Rice Management Program is live and ready for fields to be enrolled for the 2022 season.  All log-in and producer information has been retained from the 2021 season, so if you used the program last year you can log in just as you did last year.  Log in and enroll fields here:  https://dd50.uada.edu.

Use the Arkansas Rice Advisor Internet App!

The Arkansas Rice Advisor site https://riceadvisor.uada.edu functions like an app on your mobile device.  There you can readily access the DD50 program, rice seeding rate calculator, drill calibration, fertilizer and N rate calculators, publications, and more.

Additional Information

Arkansas Rice Updates are published periodically to provide timely information and recommendations for rice production in Arkansas.  If you would like to be added to this email list, please send your request to rice@uada.edu.

This information will also be posted to the Arkansas Row Crops blog (http://www.arkansas-crops.com/) where additional information from Extension specialists can be found.

More information on rice production, including access to all publications and reports, can be found at http://www.uaex.uada.edu/rice.

Acknowledgements

We sincerely appreciate the support for this publication provided by the rice farmers of Arkansas and administered by the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board.

The authors greatly appreciate the feedback and contributions of all growers, county agents, consultants, and rice industry stakeholders.