Arkansas Rice Update 8-8-25

by Jarrod Hardke, Rice Extension Agronomist - August 8, 2025

Arkansas Rice Update 2025-20

August 8, 2025

Jarrod Hardke, Bob Scott, & Scott Stiles

“Oh, you don't know the shape I'm in.”

End Begins

Rice harvest officially started on Monday.  Scattered fields are getting rolling in southern and central areas this week, with more trying it out this weekend into next week.  As expected under these hot conditions, moisture is already falling fast so don’t get behind if you have rice close!  If you grab a hand sample, remember to add 2-3% to that number to be close to the real value.  Initial yield reports are extremely limited but aren’t exciting to start out.

The extended forecast calls for very little rain, but with continued heat.  Interestingly though, with that heat next week there are persistent low rain chances suggesting scattered thunderstorms may be possible.  It will be interesting to see how it plays out.  For now it’s setting up for another cooking August.

Stink bug numbers are still variable but are climbing in some areas requiring a few more treatments to keep them under control.  Continue to scout through draining if you’re draining before rice reaches 60% hard dough as they can still cause peck damage to that point.

Read on below for more information on acreage, ratoon rice, weed control, and markets.

Let us know if we can help.

Fig. 1.  NOAA 7-day precipitation forecast.

Field Days

Aug. 14 – Pine Tree Research Station Field Day

7337 Hwy. 306 W., Colt – Registration begins at 7:30 with tours starting at 8:15.  Topics include rice breeding, rice agronomy, soybean agronomy, soybean breeding, rice insects, soybean and rice diseases, soybean and rice weed control, and fertility in rice/corn/soybean.

Ricing Around

Jarrod Hardke

Acreage Expectations

To make guesses at crop acreage you have to be ok with always being wrong to a certain degree.  Consider me ok with that.  But while I still think acres are going to wind up between 1.1 and 1.2 million total (long and medium grain), whatever they do end up we’ll learn a lot about in Tuesday’s FSA Crop Acreage report (Aug. 12).  Below is a little table that shows data from 2015 to 2024 comparing the August initial planted acreage report from FSA, their final number in January, and the final harvested acreage reported by NASS.  Basically, the acreage that comes out next week is very nearly the final acreage (the exception is 2020 where reporting was delayed so really it became the September report that acted more like the August report usually does).

Table 1.  Comparison of August FSA planted acreage, January FSA planted acreage, and NASS final harvested acreage numbers, 2015-2024.

Ratoon Rice

While we won’t have a lot of acres pursuing a ratoon crop this year, with some limited harvest underway there are questions about it so let’s hit the high points.  These general guidelines are based on our limited observations in the state and some of the guidance provided by LSU in their gulf region.

Nitrogen

• Harvest prior to Aug. 15 – consider applying 45 lb N (100 lb urea).

• Harvest after Aug. 15 – ZERO N should be applied. Though southern AR may push a little past this date.

• Harvest after Sept. 1 – highly unlikely a viable ratoon crop can be made.

• For reference – LSU recommends applying 90 lb N if harvest occurs prior to Aug. 15; from Aug. 15 to Sept. 1 use decreasing rates; after Sept. 1 apply zero N (remember this is in the southern gulf coast region).

• In Arkansas we have no business applying more than 100 lb urea at any time when attempting a ratoon crop – the maturity delay will be too great.

• The more N we apply the greater the yield potential, but the later the maturity and decreasing likelihood that we mature the crop out.

Stubble Height

• Harvest rice so that 8-12 inches of stubble height is left.

• The taller the stubble is left the faster the ratoon crop will come on, but the lower the yield potential.

Flooding

• Reestablish a shallow flood as quickly as possible after main crop harvest and keep it wet.

Yield expectations

• Range from 25-75 bu/acre. And some that press too late may not make a harvestable crop.

• We don’t have any recent ratoon plot data (last was in 2018). General expectations should be that milling yields will be low but that quality will be excellent.

Bobbing and Weeding

Bob Scott

2025 will go down as the year of the sedge, whether its yellow, annual or white margin, sedges attacked with a vengeance this year.  I am convinced this was partially due to the amount of rainfall we had and the inability of many to get timely herbicide applications out, but I am also very concerned that we are seeing a shift to white margin sedge and other sedges that have developed resistance to the ALS chemistry (halosulfuron, etc.).

What to do about sedge next year?  We do offer a testing program through your county office where you can send suspected resistant seed samples.  There is a form to fill out and you must be sure to collect an ample number of viable seed for it to be tested.  Many consultants I have talked to have said they are not going to test, they are simply going to assume they are getting resistance and move some alternative chemistry to the front of the line up, rather than having it bat clean up like this year.  Mostly we are talking about Basagran alone or with propanil, but also Loyant or Sharpen (annual sedge) early post these products can be followed by 2,4-D at mid-season (where legal) or Rogue applied post-flood (where permanent flood is possible).  In terms of Basagran with propanil this treatment will work a lot better if applied to 2-3” sedge instead of big stuff that has already been missed by another product.  I should say that no one thinks we should fully abandon the ALS products, they still bring much to the table.  But until something better comes along we are probably looking at some of these products being moved to the pre-emergence timing or used in a tank-mix to pick up a broader spectrum of weeds.

I am excited about some of the research we have done this year.  Registration of Keenali herbicide from FMC is expected in late 2026 if things stay on schedule with the EPA.  This product is a brand new mode of action period, not just in rice.  It provides residual control of barnyardgrass, sprangletop, large crabgrass, and suppression of signalgrass, kind of a narrow spectrum, but an important one in rice production.  It will come as a co-pack with Command.  I am told that a case of product will either treat 30 acres of a silt loam or 15 acres on heavy clay.  I have looked at this material for two years now and am excited about the added length of residual and more complete grass control it brings when compared to Command alone.  In the photos below one shot of Command plus Keenali looks about as good as the split shot of Command in the next plot.  In that test, which is on a silt loam at the Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center near Harrisburg, the two-shot program looked especially clean.

In addition to new herbicides, we are also continuing to evaluate fenclorim seed treatment for its ability to reduce injury from various herbicides.  This seed treatment has been acquired by UPL (Viludo™) and they are evaluating numerous potential uses of this product, including evaluating some herbicides not currently labeled for rice.  These herbicides do include members of the chloroacetamide family, which is currently not used in rice production.  This could add some interesting new tools to the toolbox in the future.

One final note, there are harvest aids going out this year in both Corn and Soybean, don’t forget we have rice that is likely growing nearby and at a very sensitive stage to herbicide drift!  Good luck with the rest of the season.

Fig. 2.  Command + Sharpen herbicides pre-emerge followed by Command + Clincher + Gambit post-emerge.

Fig. 3.  Command + Keenali + Sharpen herbicides pre-emerge followed by Gambit post-emerge.

Fig. 4.  Command + Keenali + Sharpen herbicides pre-emerge followed by Command + Keenali + Clincher + Gambit post-emerge.

Market Update

Scott Stiles

Rice futures are recovering nicely this week after making new contract lows last Friday.  The September contract (chart below) has broken through technical resistance at the 20-day moving average (red line) and appears headed for the $12.83 - $12.85 area in short order.  Fresh news was scarce this week.  Harvest is underway in the south Delta.  Thursday’s Export Sales report included the final results for the 2024/25 marketing year that wrapped up July 31st.  The USDA’s next WASDE and Crop Production reports are scheduled for release on Tuesday, August 12th.  The newswires do not publish analyst expectations for rice, as they do for corn, soybeans, and wheat, so it is difficult to know what might constitute a “surprise” in the numbers.

Fig. 5.  CME September 2025 Rice Futures, Daily Chart.

U.S. Rice Harvest

Monday’s Crop Progress had U.S. rice harvest at 6% complete vs 5% average.  Harvest in Louisiana and Texas is running on par with the 5-year average at 27% and 15%, respectively.  After a week of favorable weather conditions, we expect to see Arkansas and Mississippi register some harvest progress in next Monday’s NASS report.  Historically, Arkansas’ rice harvest has not been much more than 1 to 2% complete by August 10^th.

Table 2.  Rice Harvested - Selected States (%).

USDA Reports Next Week

USDA’s monthly Crop Production and WASDE reports will be out at 11:00 a.m. Central on August 12^th.  The August production estimates will be based on information from farmer surveys, satellite/crop density analysis and weather model/yield analysis.  In-field, objective yield survey data will not be used until September.

Also, the first round of FSA’s certified crop acreage is also expected to be released on August 12^th.  Rice acreage, especially in the Midsouth, is still a subject of debate.  The planted and prevented planting acres in FSA’s first report of 2025 will be of particular interest.  This information will provide clues about possible revisions to the current NASS acreage estimates.

Links to August 12 USDA reports:

USDA August 2025 WASDE  https://www.usda.gov/oce/commodity/wasde/wasde0825.pdf

USDA NASS Crop Production https://usda.library.cornell.edu/concern/publications/tm70mv177

USDA FSA Crop Acreage Data https://www.fsa.usda.gov/tools/informational/freedom-information-act-foia/electronic-reading-room/frequently-requested/crop-acreage-data

Long-Grain Export Sales and Shipments

Thursday’s (8/7) Export Sales included the final week of data for the old crop 2024/25 marketing year.  Based on weekly reporting to USDA, export sales of long-grain for 24/25 ended the year 23% below the 2023/24 total.  Occasionally, what gets reported to USDA for the Export Sales report can differ from official Census Bureau trade data.  At face value though, it appears USDA’s July long-grain export estimate may still be too high at 63.5 million cwt., which is 15.5% below the 2023/24 export total.

Switching to new crop (25/26), rough rice sales are off to a slow start, but there were sales last week to Mexico (26,000 mt), Nicaragua (15,000 mt), Venezuela (15,000 mt), and unknown destinations (6,000 mt).  The only milled rice sale of note was to Mexico (914 mt).  Thus far, milled rice sales to Haiti are running 9% ahead of last year and the U.S. has a 44,000-ton new crop sale to Iraq on the books, which may have been switched from old crop a few weeks ago.

Phosphate Prices Continue Higher

In the Midsouth region, DAP (18-46-0) prices have increased $200/ton since early January.  Triple superphosphate (0-45-0) has increased almost $150/ton year-to-date.  At $820/ton, that is the highest price level for DAP since summer 2022.  The latest round of tariffs that went into effect on August 7 will likely maintain strength in phosphate prices.  The top exporters of phosphate fertilizer to the US will face 10%-25% tariffs.  These countries include Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Australia, Tunisia and Lebanon--which provided about 84% of the US' ammonium phosphate and triple superphosphate imports in 2024.

Fig. 6.  DAP prices for 2024, 2025, and 5-year average.

Source:  Green Markets®, Bloomberg L.P. August 1, 2025.

DD50 Rice Management Program is Live

The DD50 Rice Management Program is live and ready for fields to be enrolled for the 2025 season.  All log-in and producer information has been retained from the 2024 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.