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By Lana Robinson
Field Editor
The 2004 Texas rice harvest, which started in mid-July at the western edge of the production area and rolled eastward, concludes this month—observed as National Rice Month—around Beaumont. In Texas, the rice belt stretches from Orange County down along the Gulf Coast to Victoria and Calhoun Counties. In the week following Labor Day, Curt Mowery of Rosharon, former Texas Farm Bureau District 11 state director who currently serves on the Brazoria-Galveston County Farm Bureau board, estimated that the harvest was 85 percent to 92 percent complete.
"Rice production increased in 2004. It jumped from 180,000 to 190,000 acres in 2003 to about 220,000 this year," Mowery reported Sept. 8. "That's more or less associated with the price increase we saw last year, and it's due, to some extent, to new varieties coming on line, with a little bit better yields, a little bit better quality, and a little bit more customer appeal for the consumer. We have had some pretty good positives for rice on the research end and production for the 2004 crop."
He said current rice varieties are still pretty much susceptible to diseases that are prevalent in Texas However, he said there are a number of effective compounds available that will enable the plants to remain healthy through the growing period and reproductive period. Mowery also said new varieties are helping Texas producers.
"Cheniere, a new high-yielding, kind of a semi-dwarf variety released this year, has very good packaging potential, bright beans, and customer/consumer appeal to it. We planted that this year. The yield has been pretty much in line with other varieties we have been planting in the past," he said, noting that the variety was developed at Louisiana State University.
According to LSU rice breeders, Cheniere is a semi-dwarf, long-grain variety that has similar height and lodging resistance to Cocodrie, another popular LSU release, but appears less susceptible to straighthead than Cocodrie. Cheniere planted by early to mid-April and harvested by early August has the potential to produce a second crop.
"Generally, depending on the time of year, a second cutting has as much as 10 to 30 percent of the yield of the first cutting," Mowery explained. "If you plant an early maturing variety, like Jefferson (95 days), you get your first cutting early and it has more time to get more optimum sunlight for the second cutting than with a later maturing variety like Cheniere (110 days). Since this is the first year we've planted Cheniere in Texas, we don't know how it's going to respond and yield on the second cutting."
Mowery said rice yields were reduced this year due to too much rainfall in June—15 to 20 inches in parts of the Lone Star rice-growing region—and cloudy weather.
Mowery said the industry has made enormous strides since he began rice farming in 1977. Practices and varieties are totally different today, he said.
"We're not planting any of those varieties we did 25 years ago. All have changed to higher yielding, more intensive management varieties out there. Ground preparation—there's not much of that. Even five to 10 years ago, we used to mechanically work every field before we planted. Now, we work it in the fall, allow it to remain stale over winter, and plant into that seed bed in spring. Some plant soybeans and harvest the crop in the fall, if it's dry. Then, they no till into that field the following year—something we would never have thought about five years ago. Insect programs and fertility programs have all changed. There is an ongoing process of change in the rice production part of it. We may be in for more drastic changes in the next five years, with the newer varieties and how they adapt differently to the environment...," he said.
Integrated pest management is an essential part of the rice regimen, but it must be justified, Mowery noted.
"If not personally, a consultant is out there on a weekly basis checking crops, seeing if there's pressure or whatever circumstance we are looking for, to be aware of disease, insects, and weed pressure. When it reaches a certain threshold, that's when we put it out," he said.
Although historically, rice farmers have rotated and not planted rice after rice, Mowery said a few producers are experimenting with doing just that.
"Due to economics, it may be something we look at, depending on the disease packages with varieties. If it's not too high, and offers weed control—different varieties are less susceptible to different herbicide programs—then we can stay one step ahead of weed control pressures," he suggested.
Mowery expects rice consumption to be down again in 2004 because of the Atkins Diet and the low-carbohydrate emphasis. He views that as a minor setback.
Mowery was among the Texas Farm Bureau directors traveling to Cuba on the first trade mission back in the 1990s. He remains a strong advocate of opening up trade with Cuba, a big consumer of rice close to home.
"Cuba has the potential to consume the entire Texas rice crop produced in a year, plus part of Louisiana's. It's a huge market. It's a shame to be in this close proximity and not have market access. There's too much politics...
"I don't care if you are a Democrat or a Republican, it makes no sense, in my opinion, to isolate a country that every other country on the face of the earth trades with except the United States," said Mowery.
