Continual rainfall in the past few days has Louisiana farmers worried about disease problems in their rice crops, the LSU AgCenter reports.
During rice field days—informational sessions on new cultivation technologies—in Evangeline and Jefferson Davis parishes, LSU AgCenter Plant Pathologist Don Groth said he’s received 20 to 30 calls from farmers about disease problems in crops within the last week and a half.
AgCenter rice specialist Dustin Harrell says the rice crop got off to a good start this year with a warm winter and a spring that allowed for early planting.
“Everything was looking good until late April, when we got significant rainfall,” he said.
This year’s crop of 400,000 acres is about 8% lower than last year.
About 4,000 acres of rice were lost in Louisiana because of floods, but rice acreage in Missouri and Arkansas had more significant losses, with more than 150,000 acres ruined in Arkansas.
