Linscombe talks rice research, production

Since Dr. Steve Linscombe, rice breeder and director of the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station, joined LSU in 1982, things have changed mightily in the rice industry.
Now, the industry may not be staring down the best prices, but it is one that sees a future through continued work by the research station and more.
Speaking to the Rotary Club of Crowley Tuesday, Linscombe explained just how far the industry has come.
Last year, he explained, Louisiana had over 1,000 growers in 29 parishes. They combined to farm roughly 412,000 acres and produced 7,300 pounds of rice per acre.
Despite technically being down a few numbers, it is still miles ahead of where the industry was decades ago.
In fact, even the type of rice grown has changed. Years ago, medium grain was the rice to grow with farmers opting for the grain on a two-to-one ratio. Now? Last year alone, 85 percent of rice grown in Louisiana was long grain.
But growing rice is just one part of the industry’s puzzle that increasingly turns to research in order to keep up with both demand and to survive.
Case in point, for years, cultivated rice had to fight for room in a field that would also grow red rice. That nuisance – a rice plant that was so much like its cultivated counterpart that it was impossible to single out a trait to create a herbicide for it – led to the creation of the Clearfield rice plant.
But, as the old adage goes, “nature always wins.” After years of success with Clearfield’s plant and the Clearfield pesticide, the red rice plant is mounting a comeback in fields as it has begun cross pollinating with Clearfield rice and is creating its own hybrid.
It’s factors like this that have made continued research and development critical in the rice industry.
Now, once again, those involved in research feel they are close to the next great answer – Provisia – but, odds are it will be back to the drawing board for the next great discovery after Provisia is released to combat the next problem.
It’s the circle of research that has become vital to the industry, and why stations like the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station are offering critical services to the industry.
The other side of the research coin has become the traveling it involves. Some of that is the numerous trips to the Puerto Rico station, which Linscombe explained is hardly a vacation.
“No one wants to come with me to Puerto Rico more than once,” he said.
Then, there are other trips made across the world that have seen the research station give research to other countries but received so much more in return.
The current site of the research station is about 720 acres in size; there is also the South Farm, located along Louisiana Highway 13 south of Crowley, which houses much of the station’s crawfish and soybean research.
Those looking for more information about the station and the work it does can visit them on Facebook or make plans to attend the annual Field Day, set for Wednesday, June 29.
“We have one of the biggest in the state,” said Linscombe of the station’s Field Day. “If you’ve never been, make plans to hop onto a trailer and go around the station, or, at least be there around noon and let us feed you a great lunch.”