Rain affecting region's rice

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

Harvested rice is unloaded for transport at a South Central Texas farm. -- Staff photo by Carolyn Rost

October 2, 2003 -- Rice producers in South Central Texas and Louisiana are "harvesting rice while the sun shines" as fall's rains and cool weather are on the near horizon.

According to reports from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Texas Crop Weather, the rice harvest is around 95 percent harvested.

Some areas have experienced so much rain, from hurricanes and other storms, producers are having a hard time getting into the fields to harvest the rice or prepare for a second crop.

Other producers are preparing for ratoon crops, or harvesting a second crop that grows from stubble after the main harvest. Producers who are able to make the second crop do it with little expense.

According to reports from Dr. Fred Turner, agronomist at the Texas A&M University (TAMU) Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Beaumont, the ratoon crop is almost free, since it "doesn't have to be planted or tilled and needs little herbicide."

Producers with ratoon crops usually need to fertilize, flood and harvest the second crop, making it much more cost efficient than the original harvest.

The Texas Agricultural Statistics Service reports, as of Aug. 1, total stocks of rice were down from the same time, last year.

These totals included rough rice (per 1,000 hundredweight) on farms or in farm warehouses - 1,225; in mills and in attached warehouses - 5,749; in warehouses not attached to mills - 13,080; and in ports or in transit - 17. The total for this year was 20,071 versus last year at 31,809.

While the milled rice was up from this time last year, at 3,783 in mills and in attached warehouses, it was down to 54 (hundredweight) in warehouses not attached to mills and in ports or in transit at 737. The totals for the milled rice were 4,574 for 2003 versus 4,930 in 2002.

According to the Delta Farm Press, Richard E. Bell of Riceland Foods Inc., and former undersecretary of agriculture, has "urged Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to make available to rice farmers as soon as possible the maximum initial payment of the 2003 crop counter-cyclical payment for rice."

Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, the initial payment allowed can be up to 35 percent of the project payment, after Oct. 1. Again, weather conditions are blamed for some of the lower yields, this year.

Texas rice production trends show the state's rice crops have an economic impact of almost $1 billion annually, and is the state's fifth largest cash crop.

While this may be true, growing rice in Texas is not for the faint of heart, since much of the Rice Belt has high rainfall, disease, insects, weeds and drainage problems, not to mention hurricanes and severe storms which dump inches of rain in a short period of time.

Many of the rice producers have used their cropland as a habitat to induce migratory waterfowl, but with many producers no longer able to stay on the land due to financial reasons and farm bill regulations, even the hunting has declined in this part of Texas.

While the poor economy has hurt rice farmers and forced them to rely more on government subsidies, it is said that "once a rice farmer, always a rice farmer," since that's what they seem to do best.

TAMU biologists are developing genetically modified rice, which should be resistant to insects and microbes. This new breed of seed may help revolutionize the food and agriculture industries, as well as help stamp out hunger in developing countries.

Along those lines, the USA Rice Federation reports the U.S. government is requesting a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel to address Mexico's anti-dumping duties they have established on shipments of U.S. long-grain, milled rice. Mexico is the number one export market for U.S. rice.

Experts believe that the duties violate the WTO rules and give the wrong message to other countries concerning laws and understandings between countries.