Rice Briefs
November 2017
Colusa County
2017 Rice Recap The 2017 cropping season was a crazy one. Although 2017 started out very promising with record rainfall during the winter, the rains persisted into the spring delaying seedbed preparation and planting. Many growers had to take short cuts in order to get their fields planted in a timely manner. These shortcuts included doing field operations when soil was wetter than optimal, skipping some operations, and planting early duration varieties. Planting was typically delayed by 1 to 2 weeks relative to a more typical year. In addition, late rains prevented a lot of acreage from getting planted so acreage is down and estimated to be 462,000 acres - much lower than the 520-
550,000 acres in a typical year. After lingering rains came a hotter than average summer. Late planting and warm weather appears to have shortened the time from planting to harvest by about a week. In addition, armyworms were a problem for the second year in a row and there were higher than normal incidences of some diseases, particularly stem rot and kernel smut. In general, there was a lot of lodged rice, some going down even before fields were drained. Many are reporting that rice yields are down about 10%. Bruce Linquist, UCCE Rice Extension Specialist.
Delta Rice Recap The 2017 season was marked by weather extremes, including record winter rainfall and high summer temperatures. Despite those, Delta rice growers generally observed an average to above-average season. Total acreage for the Delta south of the Yolo Bypass was roughly 2900 acres. For some growers, acreage was up because they were able to get ground preparation done early, but for others, acreage was down because the ground was late to dry out. Most of the Delta acreage is in San Joaquin County, with a few hundred acres in the “tail� of
Sacramento County. The acreage was entirely drill-seeded, as is typical for the Delta, and planted with M.206. Annual rainfall (October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017) for the region varied greatly by location. CIMIS (http://www.cimis.water.ca.gov) stations for the south Delta reported rainfall from 16 to 20 inches, but stations in the north Delta reported 28 to 38 inches. Most of this rainfall fell in October through January. Spring rainfall lingered into the month of April, but accumulation of at least a tenth of an inch ceased by mid-
UCCE Colusa County. 100 Sunrise Blvd., Suite E . P.O. Box 180, Colusa, CA 95932 Office: 530.458.0570 Fax: 530.458.4625 Email: colusa@ucanr.edu Website: http://cecolusa.ucanr.edu