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Missouri rice growers to have field day
Rice growers will gather in southeast Missouri this Thursday for the Missouri Rice Research Station Annual Field Day.
An aquatic crop, rice is planted on about 200-thousand acres in Missouri. Michael Aide, chair of the Department of Agriculture at Southeast Missouri State University, tells Brownfield the Delta Region is great for growing rice, “Because Missouri and some of our other states along the Mississippi River have such an abundance of ground water, when we have the growing season, we can grow some of the best rice in the world.”
Aide says the Mississippi River is also a key channel for shipping Missouri rice all over the world.
Thursday’s field day will cover production practices ranging from weed management to the latest technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles (or drones) to help increase farmers’ profitability, “Breeding. We breed rice in Missouri. New varieties. We have programs on how to avoid herbicide spray drift. We have new remote sensing technologies to be demonstrated. We’re looking at new tillage methods for rice.”
Aide says Southeast Missouri State has just gotten a drone for its research farm and is teaching students the technology. He predicts all modern farmers will have UAVs/drones within the next 10 years.
The field event begins this Thursday morning at the Missouri Rice Research Farm near Malden, Missouri.
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