Andrew Rudd, Rice Research Board Chairman |
Welcome to the 54th annual report to
the California Rice Growers. In the following
pages, we report on grower
funded research from 2022. The following pages
will include summaries of the various projects that
were funded, including rice breeding, variety trials,
weed and disease management, cover crop
studies, invertebrate pest management and insect
monitoring as well as several others.
Just below is a list of the projects in this report. I hope that you will look through the areas that interest you, and read the full reports, linked with the QR code, for further information. Full technical reports can also be found on the website www.carrb.com. Look under the tab “Annual Reports”, select the 2022 year, the article will be under “Full Report Text” to the right of the title. In spite of the challenges that we’ve faced, I’m happy to report that we are continuing to make good progress in the various projects funded by the rice industry. None of that happens without the ongoing support of the California growers through the Rice Research Board. Many thanks to you all. I wish you the best for a safe and productive year in rice country. |
The drought conditions experienced over the
past several years lead to a decrease in acreage that
most of us have never seen in our time
farming rice in California. Farm Service
Agency reports show that there were
241,000 acres planted in 2022, which was
61% of the 2021 crop (a year of reduced
water allocations). Despite the reduction
in assessment funds generated, the Rice
Research Board was able to fund the main
projects for rice production and rice industry
issues. The generous winter that came
to California has filled our reservoirs and
with that it is a pleasure to see rice
acreage rebound to (near normal) levels
within the state! This will help towards reversing
the negative budget and the use
of reserve funds we experienced with the
very low acreage of the 2022 crop year,
where the CRRB observed assessments
covering less than 50% of the rice research projects
at the Rice Research station, UC Davis, and the
USDA.