Growers plan a 20-percent increase in rice plantings this year in Arkansas, the state that often grows half of the U.S. rice crop, says U-Arkansas.
Heavy late-winter rains of up to a foot in parts of the state are unlikely to alter the prospect of plantings of 1.5-1.6 million acres, although plantings may not be complete until late April, say university experts. “Even as we reach eventual yield declines that happen as planting is pushed to late April or early May, when you look at the current price situation in rice, compared with other commodities, it still ‘pencils out’ better,” said rice agronomist Jarrod Hardke of the university’s Division of Agriculture.
Some growers will shift soybean land into rice because the grain looks more profitable than the oilseed, said Hardke.
The USDA projects rice plantings of 2.8 million acres this year, up 7 percent from 2015, for a harvest of 211.5 million hundredweight, a 10-percent increase due to larger plantings and the second-highest yields on record.
For the most part, growers are expected to plant more long-grain rice, the dominant U.S. variety, and less medium- and short-grain rice. “California, which produces the majority of the U.S. medium- and short-grain rice, is expected to increase acres on improved prospects for water availability,” said the USDA in its Grains and Oilseeds Outlook.