Rice Farm Field Day draws large crowd

Many area farmers and others interested in agriculture, including a handful of politicians looking for votes in the upcoming election, attended the Missouri Rice Farm Field Day near Glennonville Tuesday. Also among those participating in the day's events were commercial sponsors of the event.

Several of the farmers expressed gratitude for the politicians showing up and demonstrating their interest in serving farmers' needs. Farmers face many challenges, including the availability of markets and the possibility of shrinking subsidies. Those in politics will be in a very influential place to affect these concerns.

Strong rains in the previous days made the walkways a little muddy and slick, but that didn't prevent the attendees from listening to presentations from various agricultural spokesmen, visiting about challenges that farmers face, swapping "war" stories, relaxing, and enjoying a meal. Rice farmers are used to muddy fields anyway, one farmer said.

Thirteen representatives from the field of agriculture were on hand to make various presentations. Topics of discussion included variety development, disease management, insect control, weed control, drying and storage, fertilization, and flood tolerance of soybeans, among others.

At the Yellow Wagon [a wagon was an area set up in the field where folks could gather to hear various topics discussed, and there were four wagons] Gene Stevens, a soil scientist with the University of Missouri Delta Research Station near Portageville, spoke about a new low-tech method of monitoring rice plant nitrogen -- a yardstick.

Stevens was pleased to be participating in the field day activities. "The annual Missouri Rice Farm Field Day is an excellent opportunity for rice farmers to hear and ask questions from university scientists conducting weed, disease, and insect control and soil fertility research," he said.

When addressing nitrogen management, Stevens said that it's an unending problem in rice. According to Stevens, the yield response curve of rice to nitrogen doesn't move gradually but dramatically.

Speaking to Forrest Rose, a University of Missouri media representative, Stevens said the yield response of corn is gradual. "With rice," he said, "you get a really steep increase in yield response, but if you put on too much, you see a dramatic decrease."

Stevens suggested using a yardstick, saying that it works about as well as anything and everybody has one. It is a lot less costly and complex he also indicated.

In an article written by Rose, Stevens says, "With too little nitrogen, you get a small canopy. You lay that yardstick in the water between the rows, and then you count the numbers you can see. If there's no canopy, you'll see them all. If there's a lot of vegetative growth, you won't see any.

"It seems to correlate well with the nitrogen rates. It's a new thing; we haven't completely tested it. I think we'll be able to nail down the critical levels."

Stevens also said, "The yardstick method took about three and a half minutes per plot -- a lot faster than anything else we tried."

John R. Kruse was also among those making presentations. Kruse is a research associate with the University of Missouri who works with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute [FAPRI].

According to one FAPRI report, the U.S. share of world crop exports will decrease through 2013. At the same time, the report indicates that the United States is one country that stands to benefit from strong world market conditions.

Some farmers expressed concern that government subsidies may be reduced if the federal government seriously considers ways of reducing the federal budget deficit. That appears to be a never-ending concern of all farmers, not only rice farmers.