The annual field day was held on July 2 at the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station near Crowley. This is an event held at this time each year that showcases technological advances that have come about from research conducted at this facility.

As a rice plant grows and develops, it progresses through a number of different growth stages until it reaches harvest maturity and is ready for the combine. Most of our currently grown rice varieties need approximately 120 days from seed germination until the grain is ready for harvest.

Rice research scientists from the LSU AgCenter conduct many research projects at locations other than the Rice Research Station near Crowley. These off-station sites are located throughout the rice-growing regions of the state.

Rice planting season will soon be upon us. There is a tempered sense of optimism among rice farmers going into the 2008 planting season because prices received for rice are currently higher than they have been for years. That optimism is tempered because the cost of production of a rice crop is at an all-time high.

The LSU AgCenter has released two new rice varieties for seed production in 2008. Both varieties were developed at the Rice Research Station located near Crowley.

The recent USA Rice Outlook Conference, held in Orlando, Florida, provided an excellent overview on the current state of affairs in the rice industry. Successful rice research can have positive benefits for Louisiana rice producers regardless of where it is conducted.

The 2007 Louisiana rice crop is out of the field for the most part. While a few fields of second crop remain to be harvested, the harvest season is pretty much completed.

Louisiana rice producers are at the mercy of the weather of our state which can sometimes be detrimental to the crop even in the absence of hurricanes.

A potential new rice insect pest has been identified in the United States. The insect has been identified as the rice panicle mite Steneotarsonemus spinki, Smiley.

Farm & Ranch 1(6):20 - August 2005. Rice variety development is a long-term research endeavor. It normally takes 4-5 years from when the initial cross is made to develop a new population, until superior progeny from that population are uniform enough to be entered into yield trials.