Crop Insurance Approved for Pivot-Irrigated Rice | by Kelly Downing

It has taken a lot of time and work (mostly by other people), but last week we finally got some good news in the pivot rice world. The USDA’s Risk Management Agency board of directors approved the application to provide crop insurance coverage for producers who want to grow rice with pivots. This means that by as early as next spring producers will be able to insure their pivot-irrigated rice crop. This decision comes at an opportune time, as weakening corn and soybean prices and decent rice price trends are increasing the interest in rice among farmers.

The real winners, in my opinion, are growers who want the flexibility to incorporate rice into their other crop rotations. This will make it more feasible to grow rice in non-traditional locations like upland, sloping, and sandy soils. It is particularly significant now that the new Farm Bill places increased emphasis on crop insurance as the backbone of its programs. More and more lenders are insisting on crop insurance as a prerequisite for funding operating loans, and this helps make that happen.

John Taylor’s rice field in Arkansas.

The best news is that this gives farmers another tool to increase their efficiency, sustainability, and profitability. The reduction in water use, pumping requirements, and greenhouse gas emissions will not only make their operations more profitable, but also more ecologically sound and sustainable — “green,” in today’s parlance.

The initial rollout of this program will be in Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, places where there has been interest and research, as well as areas where water is, or will become, a limiting factor in production. I am hopeful that, as the program grows and matures, other areas will be added.

Our participation in this effort has been very interesting. It was never about selling pivots; rather, the effort has always been to define and offer to farmers the tools to increase efficiency and profit, while maintaining their ability to keep farming in a sustainable manner. Adding rice to a corn/soybean/cotton rotation (or some variation) can also help manage the problem of herbicide-resistant weeds that is rapidly growing throughout the country.

I just looked at the blog post I wrote back in April. Wow, have things changed since then! At that time, our local soil conditions were exceptionally dry, after a long, cold, dry winter. I was worried that there would be real problems getting a crop out of the ground. Of course now, at the beginning of July, many people are begging for the rain (and associated violent storms) to stop. It has turned into a relatively cool, very wet spring; so much so that some growers in my area have had to replant twice—once due to frost and a second time due to flood.

For those who have escaped the disasters, however, growing conditions have been quite good, and many of the crops I see in my travels around the Midwest and upper Delta look excellent.

Weather is one of the vagaries of farming that we try to manage, but cannot control. I hope that things go well for you this summer, and I look forward to checking in again with further updates.

Be safe, enjoy the summer, and stay in touch. Let us know how things are going where you are.

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Kelly Downing International Ag Project Specialist Kelly, a Nebraska-based Irrigation Specialist, spent 10 years working on soil and water research projects for a major agricultural university, involving a variety of crops. His work focused on irrigation management, but also included other topics. Since joining Valley Irrigation, he has worked in the service, product management, product reliability, and sales. Kelly now focuses on developing projects in irrigation field management and providing recommendations for the Circles for Rice project. Kelly has traveled to several countries providing technical support, such as soil moisture monitoring and irrigation management training.

It’s Time for Spring! | by Kelly Downing

I must be getting old. I find myself whining about what a long, cold winter this was. Normally, I love, really love, winter. I like snow, I appreciate what the winter freeze-thaw cycles do for our soil structure, I enjoy visualizing weeds and insects dying in the cold, and—let’s face it—I am built for cold weather. But even I thought this winter really hung on a long time. It didn’t help that it has been so dry where I live. To be honest, I am fairly concerned about dry soil conditions and how this growing season will play out, especially since we seem to be in a pretty dry weather pattern going into the spring. Of course, in many areas it has been exceedingly wet, which is causing some planting delay concern.

As Charles Dudley Warner said, “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it;” I guess I am no different. The fact is, though, that spring is finally breaking upon us, and we are getting itchy to plant. This is the time of year when anticipation runs high, and we simultaneously worry about how the season will go and thrill at the chance to start a new crop cycle. 

This year, as in most, there are a lot of uncertainties facing us as we head to the field—commodity prices, weather patterns, regulatory uncertainty. However, this is an optimistic time of year for farmers. There is something neat about putting seeds into the ground and watching them germinate, grow, and produce a crop. Fall is definitely my favorite season, as we gather the harvest and see the result of the year’s work. But there is a special eagerness that comes with spring, too.

We will have a couple of new cooperators in our Circles for Rice program this summer, and I will report on their crops and progress throughout the season. There is increasing interest in growing rice this year due to the market conditions for it and for competing crops. As this interest continues, the opportunity to expand acreage through the use of pivot irrigation will become more popular as well. Research interest is increasing, which will lead to better information and more resources for producers who adopt this practice. I look forward to sharing more with you during the summer.

As you get into the field, remember to be careful. Rest when you are tired, eat when you are hungry, pet the dog, and be sure to take some time each day for your family. Have a safe planting season, and we wish you a great year. Stay in touch, and let us know how things are going with you.

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Kelly Downing International Ag Project Specialist Kelly, a Nebraska-based Irrigation Specialist, spent 10 years working on soil and water research projects for a major agricultural university, involving a variety of crops. His work focused on irrigation management, but also included other topics. Since joining Valley Irrigation, he has worked in the service, product management, product reliability, and sales. Kelly now focuses on developing projects in irrigation field management and providing recommendations for the Circles for Rice project. Kelly has traveled to several countries providing technical support, such as soil moisture monitoring and irrigation management training.

Getting Ready for 2013 | by Kelly Downing

Isn’t it amazing how our perspective can change in such a short time? A year ago, the final month of winter seemed more like mid-spring. Our growing season started early and that pattern continued through the fall. In eastern Nebraska, our growing season was a full month ahead of “normal” conditions all summer long. Temperatures were abnormally high, and rainfall was frightfully scant, so crops matured earlier. Also, harvest was early and low (for dry land crops, anyway).

This spring isn’t horrible, but it seems like the winter is dragging on forever, when it is probably just a return to a more typical pattern. We are starting to see what we should expect: relatively warm periods intermixed with “regressions” into the 40s and freezing night time temperatures. As I try to remind my wife, it isn’t an unusually long winter, it is just what we should expect during the first month of spring.

It was nice last week to finally get into the field a little bit. I installed flow meters at Jeremy Baltz’s fields, in preparation for the growing season. Jeremy is helping us gather data for our crop insurance project. We will add his 2013 data to the others on file and use them to support an application to provide crop insurance for this production practice. Getting crop insurance coverage for pivot-grown rice has been a topic of interest for several growers. Valley Irrigation has been working with other interested industry partners for several years, and we are hopeful that we can file a successful application by the end of the year.

Flow meter installed on Jeremy's field

Part of this process is collecting some results that compare traditional practices with pivot irrigation. We have had some good luck with paired tests, and Jeremy’s fields will add to that collection. He has a flood field and a pivot field near each other; we will monitor relative yields, water use and other factors, and use these data to support the application. We welcome information like this from others, if you can share it.

The trend we have seen in the recent past continues—corn and soybean prices remain high enough to make those crops preferable to rice, at least for many growers with the flexibility to choose. It seems to the casual observer, though, that this trend is finally beginning to shift. If we really get all the acreage predicted into corn this year, and rice acres continue to shrink, there could be some good opportunities by next year. As usual, I will reserve my final predictions for the 2014 growing season for approximately December 2014!

In the meantime, I hope the weather treats you right, and I hope you have a safe, productive planting season. Stay in touch, and let us know what is going on in your area.


Do you have questions about irrigation rice with center pivots and linears? Click on the Comments link below to leave us your question!

	Kelly Downing Global Irrigation Specialist Kelly, Nebraska-based Irrigation Specialist, spent 10 years working on soil and water research projects for a major agricultural university, involving a variety of crops. His work focused on irrigation management, but also included other topics.
Since joining Valley Irrigation, he has worked in the fields of Service, Product Management, Product Reliability and Sales. Kelly focuses on developing projects in irrigation field management and providing recommendations for the Circles for Rice project. Kelly has traveled to several countries providing technical support, such as soil moisture monitoring and irrigation management training.