By Sarah Cato
U of A System Division of Agriculture
HARRISBURG, Ark. — The new Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center in Harrisburg welcomed more than 250 attendees to its inaugural rice field day to hear region-specific updates from researchers and extension specialists.
SITTIN' PRETTY — The new Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center was freshly manicured and ready to welcome guests to the inaugural NERREC Rice Field Day on August 8. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo.)
Arkansas is the nation’s top rice producer, with the top four rice producing counties in the state located in the northeast corner. With two-thirds of Arkansas rice planted each year in the northern half of the state, the new Arkansas Agriculture Experiment Station location has given researchers with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture an opportunity to generate data specific to a large portion of Arkansas growers.
“This farm is unique,” said Rich Hillman, chairman of the Riceland Foods Board of Directors. “Studying this soil, studying the dirt in this part of the state that so many farmers raise their crops in, this farm and the work on it will definitely pay dividends for generations to come. This is something to be very proud of for the folks that are in this area.”
Hillman added that the educational facilities at NERREC, created for school-aged children to learn about rice and agriculture production in Arkansas, will impact thousands of students who are surrounded by agriculture but may not know much about what’s grown around them.
“What’s inside this building is just as important as the research plots outside,” Hillman said. “The educational component of this facility is unlike anything else in the state.”
NERREC Director Tim Burcham emphasized the effort required to get the research and extension center off the ground and thanked the many contributors, saying the station is for producers.
“Everything you saw today got started with one truck, a pair of boots and a shovel,” Burcham said. “I think it’s miraculous how far we’ve come and I’m thankful for our leadership team, our industry collaborators and the Rice Research and Promotion Board for all the hard work and long hours it took to get here. And this isn’t our station – it’s yours.”
During field tours, attendees saw firsthand how research conducted on the station is planned with Northeast Arkansas growers in mind.
“This has been a long time coming and we’re excited to be here and show off our plot work at this location,” said Jarrod Hardke, extension rice agronomist for the Division of Agriculture. “We’ve been able to add a planting date study here in the heart of Northeast Arkansas to give us planting date information, where we’ve historically relied on the Stuttgart location.”
In response to poor milling yields that many Arkansas growers faced last year, Hardke said he is using some of his plots at NERREC to look at causes and potential solutions.
“Given the issues with milling last year, we are trying to look at things we can throw at the wall to improve our milling,” Hardke said. “We don’t know if they’ll be cost effective, but the question is can we get any response from late fertilizer applications to hold on to that milling yield? Hopefully this will give us some direction on what we can tease out to help improve milling yields in years, like this one, where everything is planted quickly and early but harvest drags out.”
Breeding updates
Division of Agriculture rice breeders Xueyan Sha and Christian De Guzman showcased varieties that are currently available with tolerance to Provisia and Clearfield, herbicides that are popular in Arkansas rice production.
“We are latecomers to Provisia rice breeding, but we’re catching up,” Sha said. “We started this program in 2019 and fast tracked – really fast tracked – the PVL04 which, from crossing to commercial production, only took four years. I don’t know anyone who can beat that.”
Sha said the PVL04 matures about three days later than PVL03, but with good yield potential in Northeastern Arkansas. More exciting varieties could be on the market soon.
“In the pipeline we have a number of very exciting Provisia lines,” Sha said, highlighting two potential varieties with increased yield potential and Provisia herbicide tolerance. “So we’ll probably see some changes in our Provisia line up coming soon.”
Rice season recap
Hardke’s biggest surprise this rice growing season was how quickly growers were able to get started.
“I got an incredible number of calls from this area of the state around April 7, April 10 saying ‘Hey, we’re done,’” Hardke said. “Following that tremendous start, we had a lot of rain and the wind would not quit blowing. So, weed control was an interesting effort. I’m flat out amazed at the job growers were able to do to keep fields clean.”
Although wet conditions delayed herbicide applications and some nitrogen applications, Hardke said the overall crop looks really good. However, he warns that early and quick planting can cause headaches at harvest.
“Just remember that all of this is getting ready faster than you think it is,” he said. “These first fields coming out are at 17 to 19 percent moisture and normally they’re 19 to 22 percent, so they’re starting to run away. I guess that’s my way of saying get out there and get on a combine.”
Hardke noted that current cooler conditions should help milling quality post-harvest.
To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.