Agricultural Resource Management Survey - Rice - 2014

NASS Highlights

•

January 2015

No. 2015-2

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SURVEY

U.S. Rice Industry
About this Publication
In 2013, USDA’s National Agricultural
Statistics Service (NASS) and Economic
Research Service (ERS) conducted the
Agricultural Resource Management
Survey (ARMS) of the U.S. rice industry.
During the Fall of 2013 and the
Winter of 2014, trained enumerators
conducted personal interviews with
more than 1,000 rice growers in the
10 largest rice producing states. This
publication includes highlights of their
production practices, resource use,
and finances in 2013. Earlier ARMS
rice surveys covered outcomes during
2000 and 2006, and this publication
compares recent results to those from
earlier years.

Cost of Production
Table 1: Rice production costs per acre
2006

2013

Production costs, nominal dollars

33.50

83.44

Production costs, 2013 dollars

73.99

83.44

Production costs, nominal dollars

59.64

130.25

Production costs, 2013 dollars

107.74

130.25

Production costs, nominal dollars

66.12

115.65

Production costs, 2013 dollars

81.10

115.65

Purchased seed
1

Commercial fertilizer
2

Chemicals
3

2006 seed costs are deflated to 2013 dollars using national rice seed prices (USDA, NASS, Agricultural Prices).
2006 commercial fertilizer costs are deflated to 2013 dollars using the national agricultural mixed fertilizer
price index (USDA, NASS, Agricultural Prices).
3
2006 chemical costs are deflated to 2013 dollars using the national agricultural total chemical price index
(USDA, NASS, Agricultural Prices).
1

2

Source: USDA

The costs of major inputs used in rice production—seed, fertilizers, and
chemicals—all increased substantially from 2006 to 2013. Seed costs were
up nearly $50 per acre, fertilizer costs were more than $70 per acre higher,
and chemical costs were nearly $50 per acre higher. After adjusting for price
changes in these inputs during 2006-13, seed costs were more than $9 per
acre higher in 2013, reflecting changes in seeding rates and seeding methods,
and new seed varieties. Both commercial fertilizer and chemical costs were
much higher in 2013, than in 2006, even after price levels were adjusted,
suggesting that more fertilizer and chemicals were applied to rice in 2013
than in 2006.

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service

www.nass.usda.gov
www.ers.usda.gov

Seed Use
Producers of long-grain rice have shifted to herbicidetolerant (HT) varieties of seeds. The seeds, which
have been developed conventionally without genetic
engineering techniques, allow farmers to more effectively
control certain weeds. The seeds were used on 64 percent
of planted acres in 2013, up from 26 percent in 2006.
Table 2: Rice Seedings by Variety
2006

2013

Acres HT

570,000

1,600,000

Acres non HT

1,600,000

890,000

% planted to HT rice in previous year

33

33

% planted to HT rice in each of two previous years

21

21

Weeds can develop resistance to herbicides, but certain
field practices can slow the development of resistance.
For example, crop rotations can slow resistance, and
two thirds of the acres planted to herbicide tolerant
varieties were rotated into rice from other crops planted
in the previous year. Resistant weed varieties can also be
managed by plowing crop residues, burning residues,
and plowing, burning, or chopping at the edges of fields;
use of each of those practices increased—among farmers
planting herbicide tolerant rice—between 2006 and
2013, although there are still farmers who do not adopt
those practices.

Structural Change
Figure 2: Size of Rice Farms
Midpoint Harvested Acres

Average Rice Acres

Weeds can develop resistance to herbicides, and seed
companies recommend that growers use a range of other
practices to manage the emergence of resistance. One
recommendation is to rotate rice with other crops. About
one third of HT acres are still being planted in rice on rice.
Companies also recommend other practices.

Acres

Source: USDA

Figure 1: Rice production selected field practices

Percent of Long-grain Rice Acres

2006

2013
Source: USDA

Practices when planting herbicide tolerant seeds

Planted
to HT
Seeds

Source: USDA

Rotate
Crop

Plow
Crop
Residue

Burn
Crop
Residue

Plow,
Burn,
or Chop
at Field
Edges

Rice production shifted to larger farms during 2000 –
2013. The average amount of rice acres planted per farm
increased from 398 in 2000 to 619 in 2013. Most farms
combine rice with other commodities, and the average
size of farms that planted rice rose from 2,180 acres in
2000 to 3,030 in 2013. While there are many small rice
farms, most acreage is on large farms. The midpoint
acreage for planted rice – the point at which half of all
acreage is on smaller enterprises and half on larger, was
605 acres in 2000 and 812 by 2013.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
www.nass.usda.gov
www.ers.usda.gov

Pesticide and Fertilizer Use

manage fields with those variations in mind. Some
technologies have been rapidly adopted by rice farmers.

Figure 3: Fertilizer Use by Rice Growers

Figure 5: Percent of Rice Farms Adopting Precision Agriculture

Pounds/Harvested Acre

2006
2013

2006
2013

Yield
Monitor

Source: USDA

Soil
GPS
Map

Guidance
System

VRT
Fert

Source: USDA

Figure 4: Pesticide Use by Rice Growers
2006
Pounds/Harvested Acre

Yield
Map

2013

Yield monitoring shows a large increase in use between
2006 and 2013, to 60 percent of farms. Monitors can
identify variations in yields across a field, allowing farmers
to adjust inputs and practices accordingly. Also gaining
in popularity are auto-steer or guidance systems that
reduce stress on operators, and also reduce errors in input
application overlaps and seeding cut-off at the end rows.
The cost savings from small adjustments to practices
using these two technologies can also be accompanied
by increases in yields.

Water Management
Source: USDA

Average fertilizer application rates varied little between
2006 and 2013, as modest increases in phosphate and
potash offset declines in nitrogen. Substantial increases
in price-adjusted fertilizer expenditures may therefore
reflect changes in how fertilizers were being applied.

Figure 6: Percent of farms and acres reducing water usage
due to lower water availability in 2013
Number of Farms
Number of Acres

s
Te
xa

ou
iss

United
States

M

iss
iss

ri

ip
pi

a
an
M

isi
Lo
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rn
ia
ifo
Ca
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Precision agriculture refers to a set of practices that aim to
take account of variations in nutrient needs, soil qualities,
and pest pressures within fields, and that attempt to

Ar
ka

ns

Precision Agriculture

as

Rice producers increased applications of herbicides
between 2006 and 2013, from 2.7 to 3.0 pounds per
acre, while average application rates for fungicides and
insecticides fell.

Source: USDA

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
www.nass.usda.gov
www.ers.usda.gov

Since rice is grown in flooded fields, the crop requires
lots of water. Droughts in California and Texas put some
rice producers under pressure to conserve water. The
Texas rice growing region has suffered from droughts
in the past several years leading Texas to impose water
restrictions while California remained under voluntary
guidelines. This may have partially caused the difference
in the percentage of California and Texas rice producers
who had to reduce their rice water usage in 2013. Note
that the California drought significantly worsened in
2014, leading to a sharp drop in planted rice acres in that
state.

from the farm. Off farm income may arise from offfarm jobs that household members work at, or from
pensions, interest income or other sources unrelated to
employment. In turn, the net income from the farm is the
difference between the farm business’ revenues and its
expenses.
Figure 8: Rice Growers’ Household Income
2000
2006
2013

Figure 7: Irrigation Systems Use on Rice Farms

2000
2013

Mean
Household
Income

Median
Household
Income

Median
Off-Farm
Income

Source: USDA
Pressure
Systems

Portal
Systems

Pipe
Systems

Open
Discharge

Other*

* Other irrigation systems consists of siphon tubes, subirrigation, and other.

The average (mean) household income among specialty
rice producers was $278,985 in 2013, more than double
the value of $134,780 in 2006 (Fig. 8). Specialty rice farms
realize more than half of their farm revenues from rice.

Source: USDA

Rice producers used an open discharge system to irrigate
their rice fields on just over 60 percent of their rice acres
in 2013 compared with 78 percent in 2000. This system
generally requires the least amount of investment in
irrigation equipment but it does require level land,
and ditches or canals to be dug and maintained. It
appears that rice producers may be inching away from
open discharge systems. Portals were the second most
common irrigation system used in rice production,
accounting for nearly 20 percent of the 2013 rice acres.
Pressure irrigation systems are not used often because
these systems are not designed to flood a field with water
and rice needs flooded fields.

Household Information
For most farm families, household income combines
income earned off the farm with the net income earned

While off-farm income is important to rice producers,
with an average value of $60,730 in 2013, it grew very
little over time, so most of the increase in household
income reflected increased net income from farming.
As in most occupations, farm household incomes are
quite skewed, so that a small number of households with
very high incomes raise the mean. However, the median
household income among specialty rice was $212,805 in
2013, also a large jump from the 2006 median of $99,708.
Of course, prices rose between 2006 and 2013, but the
increase in consumer prices (the Consumer Price Index
rose by 23 percent) was well below the increase in mean
and median household incomes, so that the inflationadjusted incomes of rice producers rose considerably. In
turn, higher real incomes reflect the fact that 2013 was a
good year for rice producers, with revenues well in excess
of expenses, as well as the shift of production to larger
farms, which tend to have higher farm and household
incomes.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
www.nass.usda.gov
www.ers.usda.gov