During recent Horizon Ag/Provisia field days, one of the main topics was the need to look anew at rice’s profitability and yield.

That theme continued recently when Tim Walker, Horizon Ag General Manager spoke with Delta Farm Press. Among his comments:

On expectations for the Provisia harvest in Arkansas…

“We expect (the harvest to go well) and based on some of the information (University of Arkansas rice specialist) Dr. (Jarrod) Hardke has put out from his yield plots, things are promising. Unfortunately, I don’t know we’ve had any field reports yet in respect to PVL01 (from Provisia). We’re still waiting to get some of that in.

“The trials Dr. Hardke has published in his weekly news reports certainly indicate we have some good yield potential with that variety. That’s exciting.”

On yield and profitability…

“Our mission as a company is to help the industry be viable over the long haul. We understand a farmer has to make decisions based on a lot of information.

“At the end of the day, he’s going to make the decision that he believes will be the most profitable. Especially in times of depressed prices, that decision is often ‘how can I stay in business one more year?’ Unfortunately, that’s the environment we’re in from a farm economy standpoint.

“The thing we don’t want to lose sight of is the fact that rice, though treated like a commodity in the United States, is a food crop. So, there are taste buds and preferences in a food crop that we don’t deal with so much in commodities like corn and soybean.

“Our message is: yield isn’t the only thing we need to consider when talking about profitability. For us to have a strong industry going forward we have to be aware of what people want to purchase.”

On three choices…

“From just a true farm profit standpoint, there are basically price points for a farmer to choose from when picking rice varieties. There are the public variety offerings that are the least expensive in terms of seed costs. (Clearfield and Provisia) fall in the middle where we operate on a pure-line platform, but we have herbicide technology in our varieties, so the price is more expensive than a conventional. The highest price, of course, is the hybrid platform whether herbicide-tolerant or others.

“When you look at net farm profitability, yield should be measured relative not just to the seed costs. There are other costs associated with producing a crop.

“When we evaluate where our seed price is next to the alternatives, we believe on a large majority of the acres we can be just as profitable. Or, in many cases, we can be more profitable. Our total cost of production compared to a university-released pure-line shows that certainly our seed cost is more. However, our herbicide costs and our newer offerings’ disease package means the total cost of production falls into our favor.

“On the other side of things, hybrids will normally yield more than a pure-line platform. However, because of the seed and other production costs, lots of times the yield magnitude isn’t enough to make it a more profitable option.

“Again, taking the long-term view, for the industry to be viable, we must produce rice people in the United States want to eat as well as valued export customers — Mexico, Central America, Canada.”

On keeping U.S. customers happy, IP, keeping varieties separate…

“In general, the problem has not been resolved. The bulk of the rice acres, after harvest, still goes into bins and can be mixed and mingled at various stages. That can happen on a farm, at a drying facility or at a load-out facility for export paddy rice.

“Now, there are certain entities that make it part of their business model to do a better job of keeping certain rices separate from others. But, largely, there’s still very few contracts out there that a farmer can latch on to — prior to planting or even prior to harvesting — that he’d see as worth his while to go through the identity preserved process.

“But more and more you hear of start-ups pressing for the (IP) model. And there are export customers who have come in and said ‘we want a specific variety.’ It puts us at a disadvantage, especially in export premium type markets, because in my travels I’ve seen there are countries doing a much better job of identity preservation. Therefore, the rice they offer is more competitive in terms of appearance, cooking and those sorts of things.”

On PVL01’s reception from foreign customers…

“It’s pretty exciting to bring it to market not only for the weed control but because we’ve spent a lot of time, effort and energy talking about quality for the consumer. Quality is certainly in the eye of the beholder and what’s considered as high quality in the U.S. may not be seen the same in other important export countries.

“But PVL01 is a very translucent grain. One of the complaints from customers in years past is chalky rice. Customers want the rice to be very translucent when they’re looking at it in a bag. PVL01 is probably the least chalky variety released in the United States in quite some time — probably among the top ever released.

“The Nicaraguan chalk standard is probably the most stringent in the Western Hemisphere and it passes that with flying colors.

“PVL01 also has a slightly higher amylose content. Amylose is a major contributing factor in the final cooked texture of rice. Lots of customers want rice that’s loose and fluffy unlike a sushi-type rice that’s very sticky. Because of the higher amylose content, PVL01 cooks a bit more loose and fluffy compared to some of our other varieties.

“Finally, PVL01 has a very long grain. Countries like Iraq are looking for milled rice grain at 7 millimeters or longer. PVL01, at a 7.2-millimeter grain length, is the longest we’ve released in a long while.”