Arkansas Rice Update 5-8-26

by Jarrod Hardke, Rice Extension Agronomist - May 8, 2026

Arkansas Rice Update 2026-09

May 8, 2026

Jarrod Hardke & Scott Stiles

"The old neighborhood just ain't the same, nobody knows just what became..."

Quiet Progress

Another week with another interesting rain event.  The central stretch of the state saw the biggest event with the Little Rock to Memphis stretch along and north of I-40 picking up 2-5 inches.  North of Hickory Ridge and south of Marianna saw progressively lower amounts as you moved away from the heavy band.  With that said, the majority of the rice region did receive a meaningful rainfall.

We have much lower chances of meaningful rainfall for the coming week, but much higher chances of reasonable wind speeds that we’ve been needing for a long time.  Given the lack of residual activation and the lack of favorable winds for needed postemergence applications, we have some weed control messes to clean up.  Maybe this window of improved temps, calmer winds, and good soil moisture will provide for excellent weed control activity.

The rains and cooler temperatures have created some struggles for young rice planted in mid-April.  Between some excessive herbicide activity and seedling disease, that rice is experiencing some of its own struggles much like rice planted earlier struggled with a lack of moisture.

At already 88% planted as of Monday 5/4, the end of planting is near.  For rice emerged in early April, the optimum N window is closing fast and nearing the final recommended time to apply preflood N.  Rice emerging in late April is just entering the optimum window and still has some time.

Podcast:  Insect Update with Nick Bateman and Ben Thrash

In this update is info on crop progress, preflood N for flooded & furrow rice, and rice markets.

Let us know if we can help.

Fig. 1.  Arkansas rice weekly planting progress, 2013-2026.

Fig. 2.  NOAA 7-day precipitation forecast.

Nitrogen Management

Jarrod Hardke

The past few seasons have clearly emphasized the importance of being on time with preflood nitrogen.  As a teacher told me once – “to be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is to be fired.”

The DD50 Rice Management Program is your helpful friend in ensuring that you’re on time with preflood nitrogen.  Regardless of how big or how old you think your rice is, the DD50 unit accumulation tells the real truth about where you are in development.  General N rate recommendations are also included in the Rice Management Guide.

**Note while the comments below cover the majority of our cultivars, some have different N requirements - consult the Rice Management Guide.**

For varieties:

Flooded rice – 105 lb N/acre preflood and 45 lb N/acre midseason for silt loam soils; increase preflood to 135 lb N/acre on clay soils.

Furrow-irrigated – 4 apps of 100 lb urea every 7-10 days (last app aligns with midseason) for silt loam soils; minimum of 4 apps of 100 lb urea every 7-10 days and need to consider a 5^th app on clay soils.

For hybrids:

Flooded rice – 120 lb N/acre preflood and 30 lb N/acre late boot for silt loam soils; increase preflood to 150 lb N/acre on clay soils.

Furrow-irrigated – 3 apps of 100 lb urea every 7-10 days (+65 lb urea at late boot) for silt loam soils; but for clay soils – 165 lb urea followed by 165 lb urea 10-14 days later followed by 100 lb urea 7-10 days later (+65 lb urea at late boot) OR 4 apps of 100 lb urea every 7-10 days (+65 lb urea at late boot).

Market Update

Scott Stiles

The strength in rice over the past week has been very impressive.  Rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade have surged about 12% since April 29^th, with the September contract hitting 7-month highs this week.

Figure 3.  CME September 2026 Rough Rice Futures, Daily Chart.

The reasons behind the price rally are up for debate.  We mentioned in recent weeks that rice is entering a period of seasonal strength that can sometimes extend into early June.  Or, many would say the market is finally “pricing-in” a larger reduction in acres than was revealed in the March Prospective Plantings.  And, rice has had broad-based, spillover support as all the major grains pushed to fresh highs earlier in the week.  The technical action has also been positive for rice with the key moving averages turning higher on strong trading volume and increasing open interest.  The September 2026 contract has a lifetime trading range of $10.50 to $13.94/cwt.  From the $10.50 low made last December, the September contract has completed a 50% retracement by getting back to $12.22.  The next key upside objective is the 62% retracement at $12.63.

New crop, fall delivery bids at dryers were in the $5.20 to $5.27/bu. range at the close of the week.  Mill bids averaged $5.34/bu. for fall delivery and early 2027 mill bids were around $5.60 per bushel.

Crop Progress:  U.S. Rice Planting 79% complete; Arkansas 88%.

USDA reported Monday that U.S. rice planting was 79% done; up 10 points from the previous week and 13 points ahead of the five-year average of 66% planted.  Arkansas was 88% planted v. 76% last year and the 5-year average of 69%.  Rains early last week slowed planting progress in the Midsouth while planting moved ahead 15 points in Texas to 93% complete.  Access USDA’s full Crop Progress report with planting, emergence and crop conditions here:  Crop Progress

Table 1.  Rice Planted (%), Week Ending May 3, 2026.

Export Sales:

Price strength in the rice market over the past week was not found in Thursday’s Export Sales report.  For the week ending April 30^th, long-grain sales were down from the previous week with net rough rice sales dipping to a 9-week low.  There were two rough rice sales to Guatemala (5,573 tons) and Honduras (5,100 tons) but these were offset with cancellations of 11,000 tons by Nicaragua and unknown.  There were a handful of small milled rice sales totaling 2,350 tons.  Total long-grain sales remain about 23% behind last year.  In the April WASDE, USDA's long-grain export projection reflected a 16% year-to-year decline in exports.

No new crop long-grain sales have been reported thus far for 2026/27.  By comparison, there were none at this time last year.

Key Reports and Upcoming Events:

USDA's monthly WASDE report including the first supply/demand estimates of the 2026/27 crop year will be released next Tuesday, May 12 at 11:00 a.m. Central. The report can be found here:  May 2026 WASDE Report

Fertilizer hearing set for May 12

The Senate Agriculture Committee will have a discussion next week on the current situation in the fertilizer industry.  The hearing, titled “Perspectives on the Fertilizer Industry: Ensuring a Stable and Affordable Supply for American Producers,” will be held Tuesday, May 12^th, at 2 p.m. Central. 

Trump and Xi Meeting

President Trump will travel to Beijing for meetings with President Xi Jinping on May 14-15^th.  Trump is expected to ask China to buy more U.S. agricultural products.  The Middle East will no doubt be part of the discussion too.  Getting the Strait of Hormuz reopened is in the best interest of the U.S. and China and would certainly be a positive step for global rice trade.

DD50 Rice Management Program is Live

The DD50 Rice Management Program is live and ready for fields to be enrolled for the 2026 season.  All log-in and producer information has been retained from the 2025 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.