MEMPHIS, TN – The wagons are dusted off and the turn rows are pristinely mowed because it’s field day season! USA Rice staff participated in field days across the Delta during August, catching up with a wide cross section of the industry based in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri.
Topics that were covered at field days include: drones in agriculture and aerial imaging, weed management in row rice, managing rice using more efficient irrigation practices like MIRI and row rice (or furrow irrigated rice), variety trials and what will be available for crop year 2020, and current market trends.
At several of the events, USA Rice shared information about key resources for rice farmers including the
Conservation Search Tool, a search engine on the USA Rice website designed to help farmers find conservation grant programs that will work for their operation, and the
U.S. Rice Industry Sustainability Report. The report, released earlier this year by The Rice Foundation, tells the sustainability story for the U.S. rice industry from start to finish, and is a tool to talk about the great work that’s being done across the industry.
“Field days are always a great opportunity to interact with our membership, share the latest industry information from our end, and learn about new techniques and technologies that are showing promise for the industry,” said Josh Hankins, USA Rice director of grower relations and the Rice Stewardship Partnership. “These events also allow our members to speak very candidly with us about the challenges they are facing and to share what they think we as the national organization can and should do to help them out.”
Next week USA Rice staff is headed to California to attend their field day on August 28.