California Rice Commission Sean Doherty harvests rice in Northern California. Yields for California rice appear to be slightly up this year.

Storms bring inconvenience instead of disaster

By TIM HEARDEN

Capital Press

California rice growers expect a slightly larger yield this year than in 2008, despite an October storm that damaged some of the crop.

Harvest began in September and is almost complete, and the USDA predicts that farmers will end up averaging 8,500 pounds per acre on 549,000 acres this year.

That would be an increase from last year’s yield of 8,320 pounds per acre on 517,000 acres of rice grown in 2008. Total production this year is also up, rising 8 percent from last year to nearly 4.7 billion pounds, said Jim Morris, spokesman for the California Rice Commission.

California accounts for nearly a quarter of rice produced in the U.S., according to a USDA field crop review.

“It’s a little better year than last year,” said Sean Doherty, who grows rice in Colusa, Yolo and Sutter counties in Northern California. “The quality is fine. I haven’t heard too many bad grades going back. In general it was a good growing year.”

The positive reviews come despite fierce wind and rain that soaked much of the West on Oct. 13, putting a stop to harvests and raising fears that rice and other crops could suffer damage.

As it turned out, more than 70 percent of rice in California had already been harvested before the storm, Morris said. For the rest, the rain was more of an inconvenience than anything else.

For Doherty, the rain muddied up fields and knocked some kernels to the ground. He estimates he lost between 100 and 200 pounds an acre because of the rain and wind.

“There’s virtually always one rain event every harvest season,” Morris said. “That’s something when you have a fall crop that most growers expect. All in all, taking the entire state into account, things are looking pretty favorable.”

So far, prices are favorable for growers, too. Rice from this year’s crop has been selling for between $14.20 and $20 per hundredweight over government loan value, Doherty said. Typically, growers need to earn at least $10 per hundredweight above the loan value to break even, he said.

“The 2008 crop year was an exceptional price year,” Doherty said.

“We had just a fantastic year — the best year ever, a lot of people say for the 2008 crop year, due to the prices growers received for the crop. We’re waiting to see how the 2009 crop marketing year stacks up.”

Online

California Rice Commission: www.calrice.org.