August 13, 2015
Combines Crank Up for Harvest Down South
as Hot Summer Continues
The relentless heat experienced this season is drawing comparisons to both
2010 and 2011. The comparisons are probably warranted due to a string of
hot days and relatively hot nights through much of July. Fortunately, we only
saw a couple of instances where the night time temperature did not fall
below 80 degrees, and they were not consecutive nights. Considering the season, we like what we see in Horizon Ag Clearfield®
varieties as we hit harvest time.
We have experienced more hot weather this week, but nighttime temps
have been closer to normal, which is a positive for plant respiration. We
have walked many rice fields in recent weeks and it appears that the crop
may have escaped major yield­limiting cases of panicle and bacterial
panicle blight encountered in 2010 and 2011. It will be tough to achieve a
record yield like many did last year because of the number of difficult events
throughout the season, including the heat. Hopefully, we will be able to
harvest a good crop.
Careful Dry Down on CL111
CL111 has the earliest maturity of all Horizon Ag Clearfield varieties and
farmers should be careful about field dry down. I like to start harvesting
CL111 at 20% moisture. Although maturity is only about 2 to 4 days ahead
of CL151, in Horizon Ag trials, CL111 has shown it will gain up to another 4
days over CL151 because of how fast it dries down. Typically, CL111 has extremely good milling and great grain quality. Milling
is rarely an issue, but I have seen two cases of bad milling with CL111. In
both cases, the fields were sampled at 20% moisture, but were not cut for
another 3 to 4 days. The harvest moisture in the fields was 11% to 12%.
The moral of the story is that when CL111 is at 20% moisture, it is time to
harvest. This year, it will be critical given the heat that much of the rice crop
has experienced. CL151 and CL152 will be more forgiving as far as field dry
down. Sunny Bottoms
Technical Services Manager
(225) 241­5526
Regional Crop Reports
South Louisiana and Texas
Harvest is still going strong and South Louisiana is on the down­hill side of
the first­crop harvest. Several farmers have finished and we like what we
are seeing with CL111. We had a really tough time getting this crop planted because it was too wet,
followed by rain and very little sunshine for most of the growing season.
Farmers were concerned that it would be a late crop with low yields.
However, harvest is proceeding at a near record pace. It has been quite
some time since we were this far into harvest the second week of August.
Hot, dry weather during harvest has caused rapid dry down of rice and
harvest moistures are running 13% to 15% in many fields. The crop is still
not what farmers were hoping for, but I have heard several good CL111
yields in the past week, including one field that cut 51 to 54 barrels per acre.
CL111 milling reports have been very good so far, coming in at 62% to 65%
head rice. The Texas harvest is in full swing and the crop is coming in between 10%
and 15% lower than last year. Most of the yields are running 7,000 to 8,500
pounds per acre on the inbred varieties, and I have heard a few CL151
yields that have gone 9,000 pounds. Good harvest conditions are allowing
farmers to get a lot done. Most of the harvest has been west of Houston
with very little rice being cut on the east side, but that should change this
week as combines will crank up in the east. The very few reports of rice
harvested east of Houston have been similar to what we reported for south
Louisiana a couple of weeks ago (in the mid 40­barrel range).
Michael Fruge
District Field Representative
(832) 260­6193
Mississippi Southeast Arkansas Northeast Louisiana
Overall, the crop appears to be doing well. The majority of rice planted in
the early April window has been drained or is being drained, and harvest
should begin this week. Some folks in Northeast Louisiana started cutting
rice last week. There have been concerns about excessive heat causing pollination or grain
fill problems in rice. As the early­planted fields mature, we have not seen
one case where these problems have occurred in Clearfield varieties. The
later­planted crop is coming along and seems to be catching up quickly.
Weed control in the majority of fields planted to Horizon Ag Clearfield
varieties has been very good considering the difficult spring conditions.
Growers are seeing the benefit of not having to fight weeds after the flood.
We have a variety trial in Bolivar County that has two of our new varieties,
CL163 and CL172, in seeding rate trials. Please feel free to call and
schedule a visit to the trial site, or call with any questions or comments you
may have.
Tim Jett
District Field Representative
(901) 687­6362
North Arkansas and Missouri
Some rice in Arkansas has been drained, and a drive north reveals many
fields are approaching draining stage. A lot of our crop is heading and
growers are starting to breathe a sigh of relief. It's been a really challenging
year to say the least. There are later­planted fields that aren't heading, but
the warm temperatures are helping those fields move along. I have a report in Arkansas of a couple of fields being harvested. Over the
next two weeks we should see harvest start down south and slowly move
north. There have been a few stink bug applications made over the past two
weeks. There are a lot of stink bugs on field edges and that is a concern.
Hopefully as more rice heads, the bugs will spread out and not be a major
problem. We hope to see you all at the Horizon Ag Field Day in Jonesboro on August
20. As always, please call if we can be of any assistance. Garrett Williams
District Field Representative
(573) 820­5506
Market Report by Milo Hamilton
There are many commentators on the rice futures market, which is
transparent and priced every day, so it is easy to comment on. What is
less obvious is the cash price for rough rice, here and in Asia, and the
level of cash trading. The new farm bill relies on accurate reporting of cash FOB farm prices to
determine the average weighted price for long grain in the South, along
with medium grain in the South and California. Hopefully, the industry will
collaborate to provide better pricing to the USDA over time. Lack of price
transparency is not just an immediate academic concern. It will impact
your wallet. People were indignant when the price went very low in May, and now
that it is rising, people cannot figure out why it is up. Folks, I have to tell
you, the market is always right. My other rule of thumb is that big things
start big. A poor analyst blames the market when wrong. The market
says things to us, but we do not listen because we blame the market for
not being our good friend.
USDA in July slashed its new crop carryover by over 30%. We at
Firstgrain had been saying that would be the case since May. If corn had
experienced that adjustment the price would have launched moonward.
Believe me. Stocks of rice are plunging into 2016 in Asia and the U.S. I
remember in August 1987, everyone was a hyper bear and then the
market blew up in their faces. I was a bull then and took action. I am not
saying it will happen this time, but do not fall in love with what everyone
else is telling you. You pay dearly for a cheery consensus or in this case,
a bearish consensus. Let me know what you think. My email is [email protected].
Milo Hamilton
President and Senior Economist
Firstgrain
Austin, TX
Office: (512) 345­0497
Cell: (512) 658­8761
[email protected]
www.horizonseed.com
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