Farewell

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Today I share with you news about a career change. After much thought and consideration, I have accepted a position with Bayer CropSciences as a Product Development Manager – Principal Scientist. I will be working out of the North American headquarters of Bayer CropSciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. This move allows my husband and I to live close to family in North Carolina. It will also give me the opportunity to work in a critical area of crop production – developing solutions to the myriad of production challenges that producers face on a daily basis.

Yesterday was my last day at the LSU AgCenter. I have the utmost respect and admiration for every individual involved with agricultural production in Louisiana. I feel humbled and honored that I had the opportunity to serve Louisiana citizens as an Extension Specialist at the LSU AgCenter. I enjoyed the opportunity to work side-by-side with many of you identifying problems and developing solutions that were economically and environmentally sound. Louisiana will always hold a special place in my heart.

I would like to especially thank all of the rice farmers, consultants, field scouts, industry representatives, and LSU AgCenter colleagues who participated in our demonstration program over the years. Your willingness to cooperate in our program resulted in a tremendous increase in the adoption of recommended pest management practices.

Fortunately, my responsibilities will continue to bring me to Louisiana in my travels. I hope to see many of you at meetings in the future. I wish you the best of luck this season.

If you want to remain informed about Louisiana rice production and pest problems, please follow the Louisiana Crops Blog at http://www.louisianacrops.com

Sincerely,

Natalie Hummel

P.S. If you would like my new contact information, please comment on this post and I’ll email it to you.

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Sampling Dermacor X-100 water-seeded field

This year EPA approved a section 24C approval to use Dermacor X-100 in water-seeded rice in Louisiana. [Click here for a blog post about the registration.] Quite a few producers used this insecticide option in water-seeded rice in Louisiana this season. Mike Stout had extensive research data to support the efficacy of Dermacor in water-seeded rice, but I felt it would be good to verify the activity in commercial fields. Dr. Saichuk used this treatment option at the Vermilion Parish LSU AgCenter rice verification field. According to Johnny, the Dermacor rate was 1.75 oz/A. The variety Cheniere was planted on 4/5/2012 at 120 lbs/A. A true pinpoint flood was applied to the field. Nick Colligan and Stuart Gauthier pulled ten core samples from the field 4 weeks after permanent flood to verify the activity of the insecticide. Nick reported that they did not find any rice water weevil larvae in the core samples gathered.

On another note, one of the field reps reported that they are starting to see armyworms in vegetable gardens in Grand Chenier. I have not received reports of armyworms  in Louisiana rice yet, but it would be good to be on the lookout for this pest. If you treated with Dermacor X-100, the rice should be protected from injury, but CruiserMaxx or NipsitInside will not control army worms. Click here to read about armyworms in rice.

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Section 18 approved for Tenchu 20SG to control rice stink bugs in Louisiana – 2012 season

A Section 18 request has been approved by EPA for the use of Tenchu 20SG on up to 100,000 acres of Louisiana rice to control rice stink bugs. Click here to read about biology and management of rice stink bugs. This product will provide an alternative mode of action to the pyrethroids that are currently registered for use in Louisiana. The exemption expires October 31, 2012. The distributor in Louisiana is Mr. Michael Hensgens with G&H in Crowley. According to Mr. Hensgens, the suggested retail price is $24.30 lb at ½#per acre = $12.15/ac.

Rate and restrictions: Please contact your local County Agent for a copy of the Section 18 registration before using this product. Remember that the label is the law! The registered rate is from 7.5 to 10.5 oz of product per acre. A maximum of two applications can be made per acre per season. A seven day pre-harvest interval must be observed. Be aware that this product is toxic to honeybees – read the Section 18 registration for precautions to avoid bee injury.

Treatment threshold:We do not recommend treating until you exceed the recommended thresholds as described on the Section 18 label (the current label reads that you should follow the Texas guideline – this has been amended to reflect LSU AgCenter recommendations in pub 2270). To scout for rice stink bugs in the field, use a 15-inch diameter sweep net, take 10 sweeps at 10 different areas around each field. Count the number of bugs collected after every 10 sweeps and then treat if they exceed the threshold as described in LSU AgCenter Publication 2270. During the first two weeks of heading, treat when there are 30 or more stink bugs per 100 sweeps. From the dough stage until 2 weeks before harvest, treat fields when there are 100 stink bugs per 100 sweeps.

Before we consider applying for an emergency exemption next field season (should we feel it is warranted) we need to gather some specific data. We need your assistance gathering this information.

1. Resistance. Please notify us if you believe that you have a stink bug population that is resistant to pyrethoids. We will gather insect samples to run laboratory bioassays to screen for insecticide resistance.

2. Efficacy. If you use Tenchu 20SG we would appreciate any data you gather on residual efficacy of the product. Data from Texas has indicated that it provides a longer window of activity than pyrethoids. This will potentially result in a reduction of the number of insecticide applications to a field in one season. We will be conducting efficacy trials in Louisiana to measure residual efficacy when compared to pyrethoids. If you’d like to participate in a field demo, please contact your local County Agent and they can work with me to make arrangements.

3. Milling. We also need your assistance in gathering data on milling quality of rice. Specifically, we need more data on reductions taken at the mill in the form of peck and broken grains which is attributed to Rice stink bug feeding injury. Any information you can provide on grade reductions attributed to rice stink bug feeding injury will be appreciated.

Please contact me if you need additional information.

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Thrips and adult rice water weevil injury in Louisiana rice

Last week, Dr. Saichuk handled some insect related rice field calls. I thought you’d like to learn about his observations and how he recommended handling the pest problems. The problems were reported on the Louisiana crop blog. Click here for a link to a field Johnny scouted that had a thrips infestation. Learn more about thrips in rice at this link. Click here for a field Johnny scouted that had a rice water weevil adult infestation that was causing defoliation and death of seedlings. Click here for a fact sheet on rice water weevils.

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A glimpse into the high-tech world of hybrid rice – RiceTec tour

On our final day in Texas we toured the RiceTec facility in Alvin, TX and Doguet’s rice mill. At RiceTec we learned about their seed business unit (SBU) and consumer business unit (CBU). The SBU is focused on developing hybrid rice varieties, while the CBU focuses on marketing specialized rice products to consumers. Rice Tec has five physical locations: Texas, Arkansas, Puerto Rico, Mercosur (Brazil) and India. The facility at Alvin, TX is a 500 acre farm where rice land is rotated with soybeans. RiceTec is not immune to the water shortages in Texas and they have been affected by the water restrictions implemented this production season.

RiceTec is a full-integrated company, employing more than 200 people from many continents. The company activities range from breeding, contract growing, and milling of rice to packaging, branding and marketing of specialty rice to consumers. Improvements in varieties are driven by customer needs. RiceTec is one of a few agricultural companies that only focuses on rice.

This seed scanner machine measures grain size dimensions to check for uniformity.

RiceTec began in 1988 with the first hybrid rice crosses. At that time, the company was called “Farms of Texas”. RiceTec was officially formed in 1990. In 2000, the first hybrid rice variety (XL6) was sold by RiceTec. The first Clearfield variety was released in 2001, and the first hybrid with Clearfield qualities was sold in 2003. Currently, XL745 is the most popular long grain rice variety grown in the US.

A technician evaluating the cooking qualities of rice varieties.

Many people ask the question: what is hybrid rice? Hybrid rice is a cross between two distantly related parents. The offspring of this cross benefit from the phenomenon referred to as “hybrid vigor”: consistently higher yields than conventional rice varieties. Rice has a perfect flower, perfect in the sense that both male and female structures are present in the flower. This allows rice to self-pollinate. One of the challenges of hybrid rice breeding is the development of female sterile lines, which allow for the crossing of two varieties. The difficulty lies in distributing pollen from the male line to the female sterile line. RiceTec developed a mechanized hybrid seed production by planting female and male lines in blocks in a field and then using a helicopter to move the pollen between the two parent lines.

Hybrid rice was first produced in 1974. Currently, 60% of rice hectares in China are planted in hybrid rice varieties. Due to the enhanced yield potential of rice, growers can intensify production on less land. This ability to intensify crop production in a sustainable matter is critical to the support of our growing global population. The impact of hybrid rice production in China is significant. More than 40 million acres of hybrid rice varieties are planted in China. On average, the hybrid varieties have a 20% yield advantage over conventional varieties. This increase in yield potential, feeds 60 million more people each year! Hybrid varieties allow farmers to grow more food on less land, sustainably, and feed more people.

Greenhouse facilities used for variety development.

One of the critical issues facing farmers across the globe is the challenge of crop production intensification using sustainable practices. Hybrid rice varieties fit within this paradigm, because they are in their nature a sustainable product. Hybrids offer increased per capita grain yields, higher fertilizer efficiency, higher water use efficiency, lower production costs per hundred weight of rice produced, and disease and insect resistance (thus less pesticide use).

After Brian Otis concluded his presentation on the Seed Business side of RiceTec, we heard a brief presentation on the Consumer Business at RiceTec. This information was all new to me. I was not aware of the RiceSelect company. RiceSelect only sells premium rice and grains. The company is vertically integrated from seed to plate, distributing proprietary varieties of rice that are grown in Texas. RiceSelect has been in business for 30 years and was the first company to produce and distribute aromatic rice grown in the US. The CBU conducts studies of customer preference and marketing. RiceSelect is the only major brand of rice packed in a resealable jar, which improves the package appearance of their product on the shelf and maintains the quality of the rice. RiceSelect products are grown on American family farms, are rated US no 1 grade, and can be purchased in white, brown, light brown and organic. Light brown rice has gone through one phase of milling and still has some bran intact on the grain, improving the fiber content. The photo below contains (right to left) brown rice, light brown and white rice.

RiceSelect has a strong focus on environmental stewardship. They strive to produce a high quality product that is nutritious, provides ease of use to the customer, is non-genetically modified, and has low environmental impact. These stewardship principles are applied from the rice field, to the processing, packaging, and distribution of the product. They graciously provided us with some of their RiceSelect Texmati rice. I cooked it for dinner on Saturday night and was pleased with the freshness, texture and flavor of the product.

RiceTec is one of the sponsors of the Rice Leadership program and we greatly appreciate their support.

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Release of the LSU AgCenter RiceScout app beta version

I am pleased to announce the release of the beta version of LSU AgCenter RiceScout app! The app was partially funded by a grant from the Southern Region IPM center and the Louisiana Rice Research Board. We greatly appreciate their support of this project. The creation of RiceScout was a tremendous team effort, including contributions from many faculty at LSU AgCenter, University of Arkansas and Texas AgriLife. The app was programmed by the Information Technology service unit at LSU AgCenter and editing was completed by the LSU AgCenter Communications service unit. Full credits to all authors and contributors can be found in the “About” section in the app. Special credit is due to Anna Meszaros who directed this project from start to finish.

The RiceScout app contains images, descriptions, and management information on insects, diseases and weeds that commonly occur in southeastern rice producing states. Information on crop fertility is also included. The purpose of the app to increase the speed and accuracy of rice fertility and integrated pest management crop decisions.

You can access a web-based version of the app at this link:

http://ricescout.lsuagcenter.com 

Please share this link with your contacts in the rice industry. The app should function on most smart phones and web browsers. Send an email to ricescout@agcenter.lsu.edu if you experience any technical difficulties or find an errors in the app.

We are in the process of developing a stand-alone app for the iPhone, iPad and Android – in the meantime, you can use this web-based version in locations where you have access to data on your phone.

To use the app, open up the link (http://ricescout.lsuagcenter.com) in your web-browser. A “splash” screen with the logo of the app will appear briefly on the screen while the app is loading in your browser. Once the app loads, you can use the touch screen on your smart phone to navigate through the content on the app. When you open the image galleries, you can navigate through the images by swiping on the phone screen. You can also zoom in for greater detail. Links to scouting videos and control recommendations can be opened up using links to websites within the app.

Hope your rice crop is moving along nicely. The rice I have seen in southeast Louisiana looks good.

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Touring through the Texas rice belt with the USA Rice Leadership program

I am currently touring across the southeastern US rice production area as a member of the 23rd USA Rice Leadership Development Program class. This is the first of four sessions we will complete over the next two years. I’m enjoying the time with my fellow classmates who hail from across the US rice production regions.

USA Rice Leadership 2012 Class (from left to right) Timothy Gertson from Texas, Rance Daniels from Missouri, Brian Barrett from California, Clint Roth from Arkansas, Brice Lauppe from California, myself and Noble Guedon from Mississippi and Louisiana.

We all met in Houston on Sunday (April 1) and our first day of tours began on April 2. The first morning was spent learning about the structure of the US Rice Federation and international rice trade. The USA Rice Federation contains four units that represent producers, millers, suppliers and consumers of rice:

1. USA Rice Council – promotion of US rice
2. USA Rice Producers Group – the farmer’s advocate
3. USA Rice Millers Association – representing rice millers
4. USA Rice Merchants Association – rough and seed rice merchandiser

The Rice Leadership Development program is administered by The Rice Foundation, an organization dedicated to rice industry research and education.

About 85% of US rice acreage is represented by the USA Rice Federation, while the other 15% is represented by the US Rice Producers Association. The Vision of the USA Rice Federation is to be the driving force of a profitable and unified US rice industry.

After we learned about the structure and purpose of the Federation, Bill Farmer spoke about US rice exports to Canada, Asia and Mexico. Mexico is a growing export market for US rice. Cooking demonstrations and TV shows are used to promote rice consumption in Mexico. After Mr. Farmer’s comments, we learned about the rice brokerage business from Michael Creed, of Creed Rice. You can visit riceonline.com to learn more about rice trading and the Creed Rice Report.

 In this photo: Brice Lauppe and Noble Guedon discussing rice trading with Michael Creed.

In the afternoon, we toured the Anheuser-Busch plant in Houston, TX. One of the Brewer’s led our tour, which focused primarily on the brewing process. Anheuser-Busch is the largest domestic consumer of US grown rice. Rice is a key ingredient in many Budweiser products.

In this picture – Tim Gerston and Chuck Wilson (USA Rice Federation) discussing grain deliveries with a brewer.

One of the most interesting things about the tour was the sights and smells. If you’ve ever brewed beer then you’ll be familiar with a lot of terms like wort, hops, and sparge – all terms that apply to specific phases of beer production. The mechanical processes used to produce beer on a commercial scale are remarkable. One thing I did not know is that the Lager is held in “Chips” tanks for a period of time before bottling. These tanks contain beech chips and are a traditional final step in beer brewing used by Anheuser (see photo below).

On our second day in Texas, we struck out bright and early to visit the headquarters of Riviana Foods in Houston. The Riviana brand originated in Louisiana and the name is derived from a combination of “river” and “Louisiana”. Riviana has developed into a $1.2 billion corporation that is currently owned by Ebro Foods, a Spanish company. They distribute and market a variety of rice products as indicated in the photo below.

Riviana and private label make up 50% of the US rice market. Riviana sells about 25 pounds of rice per second. While Mahatma is their no. 1 brand of rice, they are seeing great growth in the aromatic rice sector. During the presentation by their marketing director, Paul Galvani, we spent a lot of time discussing the increasing demand for ready-to-serve rice products.

During our trip across Texas, we also visited the US Rice Producers Association, Hlavinka equipment, the Gerston Farm in Libbey, Texas, and Rice Belt Warehouse. The conversation in Texas focused on water issues. Due to water shortages, about 70,000 rice acres will not be planted in Texas this year. The TX acreage reduction will impact farmers, but also millers, seed merchandisers, equipment dealers and other supporting industries.

Linda Raun met us at the Hvalinka Equipment Company. Mrs. Raun is a Texas rice farmer, graduate of the Leadership Progam, and current Chair of the USA Rice Producers Group. She traveled with us to the Gertson farm and spent time discussing the history of rice production in Texas.

In this picture: Chuck Wilson, Linda Raun and Mr. Gerston (Texas rice farmer).

The Gertson’s have an impressive amount of diversification on their farm which includes a rice and cattle rotation, machine shop, precision farming equipment, and a flying service.

On our second day in Texas, we visited Doguet’s rice mill and RiceTec before we crossed the Sabine into Louisiana. I’ll pause for now and tell you more about our visit to RiceTec in my next post. If you want to follow us real time – follow the hashtag #usarice23 in twitter. You can also follow my tweets @NatHummel.

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Comment Period – Applications for Emergency Exemptions: fluxapyroxad

I don’t often post information outside of the subject of rice entomology, but I believe that many of you would like this information. Read below about a comment period on a potential emergency registration of a fungicide for disease control in rice.

RE: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[EPA–HQ–OPP–2012–0172; FRL–9341–7]

Fluxapyroxad; Receipt of Application for Emergency Exemption for Use on Rice in Louisiana, Solicitation of Public Comment

The public comment period is now open on the Louisianan petition for a Section 18 Emergency Application for Fluxapyroxad for use as a fungicide in the Louisiana rice crop in 2012. This emergency exemption has been requested for use in those areas where resistance has been identified to the strobilurin fungicides which have been widely used to control sheath blight disease in Louisiana rice production for a number of years. Last year it was confirmed that resistance of the disease causing organism has developed to the strobilurin fungicides which make them ineffective in controlling sheath blight in certain areas. Fluxapyroxad is a different class of fungicide that will control sheath blight in areas where this resistance has developed.  Fluxapyroxad is a BASF product that was tested as BAS700 and will be marketed in rice under the name Sercadis.

It is important that the USEPA receive a number of comments regarding this emergency exemption to the Louisiana rice industry. You are encouraged to send comments as individuals as well as organizations.

 

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Insect problems to scout for in water-seeded rice

Following all the rain and wet conditions, much of the rice acreage has shifted to water-seeded rice this season. This is particularly the case in southwest Louisiana. Insects problems in water-seeded rice are often very different from in drill-seeded rice, primarily because of the presence of water. Water provides a protection from some early season pests such as chinch bugs, colaspis larvae, and sugarcane beetles. On the other hand, some aquatic insects thrive in water-seeded rice and can cause injury to seedlings.

One early season water-seeded rice pest is the rice seed midge. I haven’t had too many calls about seed midge in my time here at LSU AgCenter, but I want to give you a little brush up on the biology of this pest and how to scout for injury. You can learn more about rice seed midge by clicking here.

Rice seed midge larvae injure rice seedlings by feeding on the roots and seeds of young seedlings. Begin scouting for seed midges 5 to 7 days after seeding the field. Look for hollow seeds and chewing marks on the seed, roots, or seedlings. If you confirm rice seed midge in a field causing injury, please shoot me an email. I’d like to get some better field shots of the injury and close-ups of this insect.

Rice Seed Midge - Chironomus spp.
The larvae develop through four instars before pupating under water in tubes.
The life cycle from egg to adult requires one to two weeks.

Larvae injure rice by feeding on the embryo of germinating seeds or on developing roots and seeds of very young seedlings.

Midge injury is indicated by the presence of chewing marks on the seed, roots and shoots and by the presence of hollow seeds. Midge injury occurs in water-seeded rice and is usually not important once seedlings are several inches tall. Photo by J. Saichuk.

 

You can avoid rice seed midge injury by not holding water for more than 2 to 3 days before seeding. Pre-sprouting seed and avoiding planting in cool weather can also result in fast growth of the seedlings, decreasing the chance for injury by rice seed midge.

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LSU AgCenter develops first detector program for insects

A number of LSU AgCenter Entomology Faculty have been working on an exciting new project. In a nutshell, we have created a series of webpages that are an introductory online entomology course. Because these webpages are electronic, we can adapt them for a variety of educational purposes. I hope you take a moment to visit the website by clicking here. Let me know what you think about what we have developed and how we can adapt it for your needs. You can read more about our project in this article in The Advocate.

News Release Distributed 03/06/12

Identifying insects as native or invasive species just got easier with help from the LSU AgCenter entomology department.

LSU AgCenter entomology specialist Natalie Hummel and extension associate Michael Ferro, are working with colleagues at the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, North Carolina State University and the University of Tennessee to build a website that will help not only professionals, but the average citizen identify insects.

The First Detector Entomology Training Project consists of a series of Web pages that allow people with little or no experience to learn about the world of insects and arthropods, insect collecting and insect photography.

The project will develop a train-the-trainer general entomology training course for first detector educators such as county extension agents and Master Gardeners, along with first detectors, which include border inspectors and homeowners.

“I tried to develop the website in such a way that you could come to the site with little or no knowledge of insects and walk away with something,” Ferro said.

The advantage of this system over print publications is the ability to quickly update information and not have to worry about the information going out of date.

“Also we didn’t want people having to attend a workshop or sign up for a class since things are now more global and mobile,” Hummel said.

The pages were created in a “wiki” format, which is easy to edit as needed, Hummel said. “Bugwood, a program at the University of Georgia, hosts the content for the program, and the start page can be found at http://wiki.bugwood.org/FD-ENT.”

The information on the Web pages were designed for Master Gardeners and extension agents but can be used by anyone interested in learning more about insects and arthropods, including teachers and students.

The pages provide a general overview of entomology and are designed to help users recognize common arthropods, whether pests or non-pests, confirm the identification of pest problems and recognize and report suspect, unusual, exotic or invasive species, the developers said.

Some major insect orders, such as true flies, true bugs and beetles, get their own wiki pages that highlight specific examples of commonly encountered pests or non-pests.

The training project consists of several wiki pages that provide a good overview of arthropods in general, insects and entomology, Hummel said.

Topics include how to photograph insects, how to collect and preserve insects, basic insect biology and a brief introduction to the major orders of insects, she said.

“There are some invasive pests, like the brown marmorated stink bug, that we don’t have now, but it is rapidly making its way south from the northeastern United States,” Hummel said. Having the Web site should make people aware of these type invasive insects before they become a problem.

The pages were designed to be user-friendly and act as important sources of reference information, Hummel said. “Anyone interested in learning more about insects and arthropods is encouraged to visit the site and share it with friends and family.”

“In addition to the Web pages, we are also making PowerPoint presentations so that extension agents, Master Gardeners or others can download these PowerPoints and use them as presentations about the information on the Web pages,” Ferro said.

The third piece of the project involves the development of e-learning modules that are entirely online where tutorials will be available. After viewing them, individuals can test their knowledge by taking a short quiz, he said.

Hummel said the future of the project is “limitless.” One of the next steps could be to develop it into a smartphone app that would allow the information to become more mobile.

Johnny Morgan

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