Arkansas Rice Update 4-8-22

by Jarrod Hardke, Rice Extension Agronomist - April 8, 2022

Arkansas Rice Update 2022-03

April 8, 2022

Jarrod Hardke, Scott Stiles, and Tommy Butts

“It’s been such a long time, I think I should be going.”

Spinning Wheels

Jarrod Hardke

So close, and yet so far away.  Very little progress to speak of yet again this week after more rainfall events.  As usual, amounts were variable depending on where you were, but everyone received a share.  By Thursday a few lucky spots were able to return to the field, but most are just now drying up into the weekend with a very wet upcoming forecast starting Monday.  I even saw a drill running in some spitting rain today.

This past Monday we were only reported to be 2% planted so far, and it’s unlikely that the upcoming report will reach even 5% planted.  Over the past 5 years, we would be 20-25% planted by this point in the year.  Considering some of the recent years that are included in that average, you could argue that we’re overall way behind.

Sorry, I hope you didn’t start reading this expecting a lot of good news since I haven’t given any.  One bright point to spotlight is that even though in recent years we’ve tended to plant rice later than we want, our yields have clearly been doing very well.  So ultimately let’s hope that the weather is once again pushing us into an optimum window for making solid yields whether we know it yet or not.

If you are in need of a laugh, saw this one today:

Update on AV-1011 Bird Repellent

Jarrod Hardke

This week, the EPA announced that anthraquinone, the active ingredient in AV-1011 used as a seed treatment bird repellent in rice, is under registration review.  As part of this review, it was found that detectable levels of anthraquinone may be present in harvested rice grain.  There is currently no tolerance limit set for anthraquinone in harvested rice grain, so additional data is needed from the registrant to fill this data gap.  This data is not expected to be available until 2024 at the earliest.

In the immediate, there is not a defined impact to rice growers using AV-1011 in rice – “… EPA has concluded there are no resulting risks of concern from the consumption of rice commodities that could enter or are already available from the channels of trade.”  Because EPA does not consider dietary exposure to anthraquinone a safety concern, FDA does not intend to start routine testing on rice from this year’s harvest or past harvests.  However, FDA is planning to incorporate anthraquinone as an analyte in the quantitative multi-residue method used by the Pesticide Residue Monitoring Program in the future once EPA’s registration review process is complete (~2024) and may take regulatory action if violative anthraquinone residues are found.  For general information about how FDA enforces pesticide tolerances, visit the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) pesticides webpage.

At this time, it is my understanding that there is not an issue with the use of AV-1011 (anthraquinone) in rice for 2022.  However, this could change in upcoming seasons once the EPA’s registration review process is complete.

The complete statement is available here:  https://www.epa.gov/pesticides/epa-takes-next-step-review-anthraquinone.  EPA plans to issue a Data Call-In (DCI) this month for the data needed to establish a tolerance, and welcomes comments on the draft risk assessments for anthraquinone over the next 60 days (https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-OPP-2017-0326).

Herbicide Plant-Back Restrictions

Jarrod Hardke and Tommy Butts

Acres continue to shuffle from one commodity to another at a rapid rate, and upcoming additional rainfall will likely continue that trend.  With that going on, we’re already hearing of numerous potential mistakes related to plant-back intervals.

First off, remember that for our burndown herbicides, some can cause us problems in rice if we don’t adhere to the plant-back interval.  Some notable intervals are included in Table 1.  This information is also available in the 2022 Rice Management Guide.

Table 1.  Notable burn-down herbicides with plant-back intervals to rice.

¹ Plant-back days are rate dependent, days presented are for lowest labeled rate.

Aside from just rice and burndown herbicides, remember some of the more restrictive plant-back intervals for herbicides we use in-crop that limit our rotational options the following year.  One example would be planting corn behind Clearfield or FullPage rice – for Newpath/Preface use rates greater than 8 oz/A per season, only soybeans may be planted the following year.  There are other examples, that’s just one that’s come up recently.  Additional information on most common herbicides is available in the MP519 Row Crop Plant-Back Intervals for Common Herbicides.

Rice Market Update

Scott Stiles

USDA’s April WASDE provided a couple changes to the old crop long-grain balance sheet.  Domestic Use was increased 2 million cwt. to 115 million.  This reduced ending stocks by the same amount to a net 19.4 million cwt.  This will be the Beginning Stocks for the new crop (2022/23) balance sheet USDA will release May 12th.  Today’s old crop adjustments only support the outlook for price volatility in the year ahead.

One other note in the long-grain balance sheet, USDA lowered the 2021 season average price 20 cents per hundredweight to $13.80.  Assuming this price outlook holds, this would generate a small PLC payment of 9 cents per bushel.  USDA will announce the final 2021 PLC payment rate in October.

U.S. Long-Grain Supply and Demand.

Source:  USDA, WASDE, April 2022.

Of interest in the World rice balance sheet, USDA lowered Brazil’s production this month to 7.14 mmt, compared to 8 mmt last year.  Also, Brazil’s rice exports were lowered to 780,000 tons.  This would be Brazil’s lowest production since 2018 and lowest exports since 2015.

Following today’s USDA report, old crop rice futures are trading about a dime lower, while new crop is 8 to 16 higher.  The September ’22 contract has been finding overhead resistance at $16.08/cwt.  Fairly consistent support has been at $16 over the past week.  As of Friday morning, new crop bids at mills around eastern Arkansas were $7.10/bu. for August to October delivery.

Crop Progress:

USDA’s first Crop Progress report of the year indicated 12 percent of the U.S. rice crop was planted as of April 3rd; slightly behind the average pace for this time of year.  Most of the planting has been in Louisiana and Texas so far.  Arkansas and Mississippi’s planting progress was estimated at 2 and 3 percent respectively.  Little in the way of progress has been made in the Midsouth this week.  More rain chances are in the outlook for the early part of next week.

Rice Planting Progress by State

- Represents zero.

(NA) Not available.

Fertilizer:

The graph below provides a look at New Orleans barge prices for DAP, Urea and Potash over the past year.  Prices for all three nutrients made new highs following the February 24th Russian invasion of Ukraine.  This week urea and phosphate prices backed off some at New Orleans (NOLA) as wet weather delays planting.  Fertilizer prices were also weaker in response to USDA’s projected drop in 2022 corn acreage.

At mid-week, New Orleans (NOLA) urea traded in the $780 to $800 per ton range, down sharply from last week’s $880 to $940 range.  NOLA phosphates were also down, trading at or below the prior week’s low of $960 per ton.  Potash remained firm at NOLA this week.

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

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

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.