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Thoughts on Rice
This podcast is for growers, PCAs, consultants, and other industry professionals in the California rice industry. We'll primarily be focusing on the Sacramento Valley and Delta Region of California. The UCCE Rice Farm Advisors aim to deliver extension information relating to the California rice industry.
Find out more about UCCE and California rice here!
Thoughts on Rice
FROM THE FIELD: April 2025 Planting Report
Today's mini-episode concerns the 2025 spring planting report and current CA rice marketing prices.
USDA Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin
USA Rice Spring Planting Report
Weekly National Rice Summary from the USDA AMS
Upcoming Events
- No-Till Rice Field Day - June 10, 2025, 9-11am, 694 Watson Road, Biggs, CA 95917
- Rice Production Workshop - POSTPONED TO MARCH 2026
- Weedy Rice Workshop - August 5, 2025, Delta
Other Resources
Mention of an agrichemical does not constitute a recommendation, merely the sharing of research findings. Always follow the label. The label is the law. Find out more at ipm.ucanr.edu.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of California. The material and information presented here is for general purposes only. The "University of California" name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.
UC ANR is an equal opportunity provider and employer
Hello and welcome to Thoughts on Rice, a podcast hosted by the University of California Cooperative Extension Rice Advisors. I'm one of your hosts, Sarah Marsh-Yanish, and I'm a rice farm advisor for Colusa and Yolo counties.
SPEAKER_01:I'm Whitney from the forest. I'm the Cooperative Extension Rice Advisor for Sutter, Yuba, Placer, and Sacramento counties.
SPEAKER_03:My name is Luis Espino. I'm the Rice Farming Systems Advisor for Butte and Glynn counties. I'm Michelle Leinfelder-Miles.
SPEAKER_02:I'm a farm advisor in the Delta region. I work on all sorts of field crops, grains and forages, but one of those is rice. And the counties that I cover are San Joaquin, Sacramento, Yolo-Solano, and Contra Costa counties.
SPEAKER_00:Together, the UCCE Rice Farm Advisors seek to provide relevant, topical, research-backed information relating to California rice production. Today's mini-episode concerns the 2025 Spring Planting Report and current California rice marketing prices. According to the USDA Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin, updated April 29, 2025, the nationwide rice progress is well on its way. By April 27th, rice producers had seeded 64% of the 2025 rice acreage. That's 6 percentage points below last year's number, 70%, but still 13 percentage points ahead of the 5-year average. Of that 64%, Louisiana and Texas lead the way with the largest percentages of rice acreage planted, with 92% and 89% respectively. As far as rice emergence goes, by April 27th, 42% of the nation's rice acreage had emerged, 4 percentage points below the 2024 season, but 11 points ahead of the 5-year average. For more information or to read the report yourself, there will be a link in the show notes. Let's narrow in on California rice. As of April 27, 2025, 20% of the California rice acreage has been planted. This is well above last year's percentage, which was 14% at this time, and above the 5-year average, which was 11% planted acreage. To explain this, we have to kind of look at last year and the year before's weather reports. In 2024, and to a lesser extent 2023, spring rains delayed both ground prep and planting work, resulting in more of a split planting. Those who were able to get in before the rain, and those who had to wait until early to mid-May to get their rice in. The USA Rice Spring Planting Report was reported on April 25, 2025, and included planting notes from several California rice growers, all of whom reported earlier, expected, and actualized planting dates, as well as favorable conditions for groundwork and planting. We'll include a link to that article in the show notes. Anecdotally, this year we have heard from more growers who are trying drilled rice on a larger scale in the northern Sacramento Valley. One feature of drilled rice is that it can be planted earlier than water-seeded rice. Some of the drill-seeded rice growers in this area planted the second week of April, and the University of California Cooperative Extension rice team planted our drilled rice research trials on April 21, 2025. We are fortunate to be able to partner with a grower for our No-Till Field Day, which will be June 10, 2025, in Grimes, California. Check out our website for more information. According to the Weekly National Rice Summary from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, updated April 29, 2025, the state of California medium grain milled rice is steady to weak at$30 to$33 per sack. This is equivalent to the 2024 price, but well below the five-year average. average of around$46 per sack. Second heads and brewers are lower at$16 to$20 per sack and$13 to$16 per sack respectively. Rice bran is lower at$110 per short ton in bulk and rice hulls are steady at$5 to$10 per short ton in bulk. I'll just mention a couple of upcoming events we have coming this season. The No-Till Race Field Day will take place June 10, 2025 in Grimes, California, and will cover research updates on no-till and reduced-till drilled race projects. The next event is the Rice Production Workshop, July 23rd through the 24th, 2025 in Davis, California. That's a two-day introductory course in rice production to cover the basics of rice farming. Another upcoming event will be the Weedy Rice Workshop on August 10th, 2025 in the Delta San Joaquin region. For more information about these and other upcoming events, feel free to check out our resources, which include the UC Rice blog and the UC Agronomy Rice website. In terms of other resources you might want to take advantage of, you can also look at our newsletters, which include Rice Briefs, which covers Calusa Yolo, Rice Notes, which which covers Butte and Glen, and Field Notes, which covers rice in the Delta region. Just another note here, our websites are currently in the middle of a vendor change, and we know that people have been having trouble finding our resources. We are very sorry about that, and if you run into this trouble, let one of us know, and we can try to get that information to you directly.
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SPEAKER_00:Thanks for listening to Thoughts on Rice, the University of California Cooperative Extension podcast from the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. You can find out more about this podcast on our website, thoughtsonrice.buzzsprout.com. We'd love to hear from you, whether it's from using our text link in the show notes, a survey submission in our feedback form, also in the show notes, or in a comment or rating on your podcast streaming service of choice. We're also experienced Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mention of an agrochemical does not constitute a recommendation, merely the sharing of research findings. Always follow the label. The label is the law. Find out more at ipm.ucanr.edu. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of California. The material and information presented here is for general purposes only. The University of California name and all forms and a brief And its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product or service.
