Mary Lagroue
Frequent rainstorms have cast a shadow over the rice farming season, but South Louisiana farmers can see the silver lining behind the thunderheads.
Weather dictates when farmers plant and harvest their crops. Farmers tend to plant rice around early March, said Steve Linscombe, director of the LSU AgCenter Southwest Region and director of the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station.
“We had a mild late-winter to spring, which allowed people to plant rice very early. In fact, a lot of people were planting even in mid-February,” he said. “We had good growing conditions.”
Then the rain began. April showers led to May showers. May showers led to more showers in June and July.
April and May marked mid-season, as farmers in South Louisiana began tilling their fields. Now, farmers are working around wet weather to harvest the rice while moisture levels are right.
Early in the growing season, some fields collected almost 20 inches of rain water. Frequent showers not only interfere with the growing season but can also lower the yields, Linscombe said.
“We actually lost some rice that remained underwater for an extended period. We figure we might have lost 3,000 or 4,000 acres. Some of that was replanted.”
Farmers whose fields were submerged in rain now report a 10-day to two-week difference in the maturity of crops that were underwater compared to crops planted on higher ground, Linscombe said.
Michael Fruge, a Eunice farmer and member of the Louisiana Rice Research Board, said his farm often collected between four and 10 inches of rain at once during growing season.
“We’ve had a very challenging growing season because of all the rain. Not only did we receive rain on a significant number of days, but when we did receive rain, it was large amounts,” Fruge said.
Richard Fontenot of Ville Platte, secretary-treasurer of the Louisiana Rice Research Board and vice president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, said rice remained underwater for seven to 20 days, depending on its location. He fears flooded fields will interrupt the harvest and even hurt the ratoon, or second crop, harvested in October or November.
“In April and May, the rain really hit us hard and has been relentless throughout the growing season,” Fontenot said. “We had to replant and start from scratch. That delays your harvest and ratoon because rice takes so many days to mature. We’re not going to have a ratoon crop for everything we replanted, so that’s going to hurt us.”
Allen McLain, an Abbeville farmer and president of the Vermillion Parish Rice Growers Association, said he harvested about 400 acres of rice before this week. The rain, however, has halted the harvest.
“Right now, we’d like to see a lot of dry weather, but with the showers and the rain, it’s making it very hard to cut. You can’t cut for very long if it rains, and if the fields are muddy and sloppy, it makes for a poor ratoon crop,” McLain said.
Alan Lawson farms outside of Crowley and serves as president of the Acadia Parish Rice Growers Association. Lawson began helping his neighbor harvest rice last week. Rain delayed his plans to begin harvesting his rice earlier this week.
“We want to harvest at 20 percent moisture, so we really need to get started,” Lawson said. “We can’t wait any longer. We have to go in between rain showers.”
Summer showers could keep farmers from harvesting a ratoon in the fall. Linscombe said “it’s too early to tell” if current weather conditions will affect the second harvest.
“We make a second crop of a large percentage of Southwest Louisiana acreage,” he said. “After the crop is harvested, we fertilize the remaining stubble and have a second crop that comes and grows not from seed but from the plant that’s left in the field. If the fields get too wet, the tractors pulling the rice carts will make ruts in the field. Any time you rut up the field, it’s detrimental to second crop.”
“We’re certainly not going to have a yield record this year,” Linscombe said, predicting that the yields will total to about 40 barrels, an average number. Forty or so barrels would be similar to last year’s yield, he said. “The average for the state was about 6,800 pounds, but that’s misleading because we had the flood in August.”
“We’re at the mercy of Mother Nature,” Fruge said. “It’s surprising that the yields are as high as they are with all the rain we’ve had. We expected them to be lower, but they’re pretty good so far.”
McLain said he has not seen a noticeable decrease in yields. “So far, the crop looks pretty good.”
“I’ve had years when, going into harvest, I didn’t think I had a good crop. I think this year we have a good crop,” Lawson said.
“We’re about two weeks out of harvest,” Fontenot said. “We’re optimistic, but cautiously optimistic, with the growing conditions we’ve had this past year. The rice harvest has started in South Louisiana.”
“The farmer is the eternal optimist,” Lawson added. “He’s always going to be hoping this year’s better than last year.”