CALIFORNIA
Field Crops A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
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A combine cuts a field of Calrose rice near Arbuckle. Rice harvest statewide averaged about 10 days later than normal. Growers had more ground to cover, with acreage nearly double from 2022.
Later rice harvest deals minor yield, quality impacts By Vicky Boyd Winter and spring rains brought welcome drought relief in 2023, but they caused rice growers to get a late start planting, and the delay rippled through harvest. About half the 2023 rice crop was planted on ground that had been fallowed in 2022 because of lack of water. Normally, Linquist said, growers experience higher yields after fallowing. But that didn’t appear to be the case this season.
Based on anecdotal information, Linquist estimated the 2023 statewide average yield was about 86 hundredweights per acre, down slightly from 87.6 cwt. per acre in 2022. For the season after fallowing, Linquist said UC recommends reducing nitrogen fertilizer. Although many growers followed those guidelines, he said rice fertility needs may need to be revisited, particularly how it affects standability. When rice plants fall, or lodge, harvest becomes slower and more difficult and grain may be lost, reducing overall yield. Mike Dewitt, who farms near Robbins, described the 2023 season as “nothing spectac- ular.” There were no unusual heat spells, no abnormal pest outbreaks, and his yields were about average. Dewitt said he had circled Oct. 2 on his calendar as his historic harvest start date. But he didn’t actually start cutting until Oct. 13, and he finished Nov. 8. “When you start pushing past Halloween, you start getting nervous,” he said about the increased potential for storms. The region received some rain Oct. 22 that stopped harvest for a few days, but Dewitt said it didn’t have a major impact. See RICE, Page 9
“It was a late-planted year, with only about half of the crop planted by May 18,” said Bruce Linquist, University of California Cooperative Extension rice specialist. “That’s about a week late. Rains delayed planting, and it had effects on yields going forward. Harvest was about 10 days later than usual.” Add relatively cool weather in late summer and early fall, and many rice producers said their grain moisture levels appeared stuck or were slow to drop to the desirable 18% to 20% harvest levels. During an average year, the season from planting to harvest spans 145 to 150 days. In 2023, Linquist said, it was 152 days. “We had late planting and late harvest,” he said. “We had more M-211, and that’s a late-season variety. We had a lot of rains during harvest—not much each time but enough. Later rains stopped harvest for a day or two, and cool temperatures and little north wind meant it took longer to get the crop out.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency reported the state’s growers planted about 501,200 acres of rice in 2023. That’s nearly double the acres planted in 2022 when drought reduced surface water deliveries to nearly zero mostly on the Sacramento Valley’s west side.
8 Ag Alert January 3, 2024
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