Rice prospects were good before Hurricane Beryl, but there are lingering questions about yield and quality losses after the storm, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts.
Texas rice yields reached nearly 8,500 pounds per acre a year ago helping overall rice production statewide rank fifth nationally.
“Things were looking good prior to Hurricane Beryl, but right now it’s anybody’s guess as to what the yield will be,” said Ted Wilson, Ph.D., director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Beaumont.
“Rice that was still in permanent flood fared well (following Beryl), so there will probably be minimal effects on the rice crop,” said Greg Baker, AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agent for Matagorda County, one of the counties that caught the brunt of the storm.
Storm’s timing causes less damage
Sam Rustom, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agronomist, Eagle Lake, and assistant professor in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, said from Victoria to Beaumont the 2024 crop “was looking fantastic” until the hurricane.
“The upper Gulf Coast as a whole had big expectations for all crops this year,” he said. “The drought in 2022 and 2023 had us pretty pessimistic going into 2024; however, by the middle of this year, we were all cautiously optimistic about what we were seeing in the field. Rain makes grain, and the rains caught prior to flooding this year were typically in the right amount, at the right place, and usually the right time.”
The Eagle Lake Station received an inch of rain almost every week between late April, May and June, he said.
“Since Beryl decided to show up so early, most of our rice was still flooded,” Rustom said. “This is key because most of our crop wasn’t at peak harvest maturity where we typically see more damage due to increased panicle weights and rice drying down for harvest.”
Rustom said had Beryl hit a few weeks later, “we would have seen exponentially more lodging.
“That being said, we still do have some pockets of rice across the state that’s blown over, mostly in Wharton, Brazoria, Matagorda, Colorado and Fort Bend counties.”
Quality still in question
Wilson said rice grain quality is another concern. With lesser grain quality comes price discounts. Last year, Texas rice hit record yields, but it was the worst year on record in terms of quality due to heat and drought.
Rutting can also impact the second rice crop, or ratoon crop, Rustom said. Ruts prevent rice from being cut at the optimal height – 8-10 inches, and volunteer rice plants from shattered grain seeds can severely impact ratoon crop development.
“Subsequent rains have increased the likelihood of a muddy rice harvest,” he said. “When fields are rutted from combines and grain carts harvesting the main crop, ratoon crop yields can be reduced up to 80%.”
Challenges for Texas growers
Rice production contributes more than $200 million to the Texas economy and when calculating production sale, resale and associated industries, the total value is near $550 million. Texas rice yields reached nearly 8,500 pounds per acre in 2023 helping overall rice production statewide rank fifth nationally.
Texas grows predominantly long grain rice. With lesser grain quality also comes price discounts. However, last year’s higher yields help offset lesser grain quality. Discounts came in just under a dollar per hundredweight.
“That’s still a lot of money, but the varieties that yield the best are also the lowest quality,” Wilson said. “That extra yield, though, pays for more than the quality loss in dollars per hundredweight. Right now, quality is more an international issue than a national issue.”
Quality remains one of the biggest challenges for Texas rice growers.
“But that’s no more than other states excluding California,” Wilson said. “Our growers for large part identity preserve their grain. With almost every shipment you know what field it came from, and you know what variety it came from.
“The Gulf Coast states don’t do that; you could get a mixture with increases in variation and quality.”
Overall, crop prospects will suffer yield losses due to Beryl’s impact.
“The bottom line is we are going to end up suffering some first crop yield losses from either shattering or disrupted pollination,” Rustom said. “The question is how much, and we won’t know that true number until the combines leave the field.”
Panhandle
The district experienced hot and dry conditions, which dried out soil. Rain was needed to improve dryland crop harvests and rangelands. Irrigation continued for corn, sorghum and cotton crops, and spraying was ongoing for preplant tillage. Producers in some areas were reporting a progression in disease in grain and sorghum crops. Grasshoppers also were a problem in all crops. Producers supplemented livestock with protein to better utilize the dry forage. Overall soil moisture was reported to be very short to adequate with pasture and range conditions reported as very poor to fair. Overall crops ranged from poor to good.
