FROM THE FIELD: April 2025 Planting Report

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Today's mini-episode concerns the 2025 spring planting report and current CA rice marketing prices. 

USDA Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin

USA Rice Spring Planting Report

Weekly National Rice Summary from the USDA AMS

Upcoming Events

• No-Till Rice Field Day - June 10, 2025, 9-11am, 694 Watson Road, Biggs, CA 95917
• Rice Production Workshop - POSTPONED TO MARCH 2026
• Weedy Rice Workshop - August 5, 2025, Delta

Other Resources

UC Rice Blog

UC Agronomy - Rice

Rice Briefs (Colusa/Yolo)

Rice Notes (Yuba-Sutter)

Rice Leaf (Butte/Glenn)

Rice in the Delta

Mention of an agrichemical does not constitute a recommendation, merely the sharing of research findings. Always follow the label. The label is the law. Find out more at ipm.ucanr.edu.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of California. The material and information presented here is for general purposes only. The "University of California" name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Thoughts on Rice, a podcast
hosted by the University ofCalifornia Cooperative Extension
Rice Advisors.
I'm one of your hosts, SarahMarsh-Yanish, and I'm a rice

(00:20):
farm advisor for Colusa and Yolocounties.

SPEAKER_01 (00:24):
I'm Whitney from the forest.
I'm the Cooperative ExtensionRice Advisor for Sutter, Yuba,
Placer, and Sacramento counties.

SPEAKER_03 (00:31):
My name is Luis Espino.
I'm the Rice Farming SystemsAdvisor for Butte and Glynn
counties.
I'm Michelle Leinfelder-Miles.

SPEAKER_02 (00:41):
I'm a farm advisor in the Delta region.
I work on all sorts of fieldcrops, grains and forages, but
one of those is rice.
And the counties that I coverare San Joaquin, Sacramento,
Yolo-Solano, and Contra Costacounties.

SPEAKER_00 (00:56):
Together, the UCCE Rice Farm Advisors seek to
provide relevant, topical,research-backed information
relating to California riceproduction.
Today's mini-episode concernsthe 2025 Spring Planting Report

(01:17):
and current California ricemarketing prices.
According to the USDA WeeklyWeather and Crop Bulletin,
updated April 29, 2025, thenationwide rice progress is well
on its way.
By April 27th, rice producershad seeded 64% of the 2025 rice

(01:39):
acreage.
That's 6 percentage points belowlast year's number, 70%, but
still 13 percentage points aheadof the 5-year average.
Of that 64%, Louisiana and Texaslead the way with the largest
percentages of rice acreageplanted, with 92% and 89%
respectively.

(02:00):
As far as rice emergence goes,by April 27th, 42% of the
nation's rice acreage hademerged, 4 percentage points
below the 2024 season, but 11points ahead of the 5-year
average.
For more information or to readthe report yourself, there will
be a link in the show notes.
Let's narrow in on Californiarice.

(02:23):
As of April 27, 2025, 20% of theCalifornia rice acreage has been
planted.
This is well above last year'spercentage, which was 14% at
this time, and above the 5-yearaverage, which was 11% planted
acreage.
To explain this, we have to kindof look at last year and the

(02:43):
year before's weather reports.
In 2024, and to a lesser extent2023, spring rains delayed both
ground prep and planting work,resulting in more of a split
planting.
Those who were able to get inbefore the rain, and those who
had to wait until early tomid-May to get their rice in.

(03:03):
The USA Rice Spring PlantingReport was reported on April 25,
2025, and included plantingnotes from several California
rice growers, all of whomreported earlier, expected, and
actualized planting dates, aswell as favorable conditions for
groundwork and planting.
We'll include a link to thatarticle in the show notes.

(03:26):
Anecdotally, this year we haveheard from more growers who are
trying drilled rice on a largerscale in the northern Sacramento
Valley.
One feature of drilled rice isthat it can be planted earlier
than water-seeded rice.
Some of the drill-seeded ricegrowers in this area planted the
second week of April, and theUniversity of California
Cooperative Extension rice teamplanted our drilled rice

(03:48):
research trials on April 21,2025.
We are fortunate to be able topartner with a grower for our
No-Till Field Day, which will beJune 10, 2025, in Grimes,
California.
Check out our website for moreinformation.
According to the Weekly NationalRice Summary from the USDA
Agricultural Marketing Service,updated April 29, 2025, the

(04:14):
state of California medium grainmilled rice is steady to weak at
$30 to$33 per sack.
This is equivalent to the 2024price, but well below the
five-year average.
average of around$46 per sack.
Second heads and brewers arelower at$16 to$20 per sack and

(04:34):
$13 to$16 per sack respectively.
Rice bran is lower at$110 pershort ton in bulk and rice hulls
are steady at$5 to$10 per shortton in bulk.

(05:03):
I'll just mention a couple ofupcoming events we have coming
this season.
The No-Till Race Field Day willtake place June 10, 2025 in
Grimes, California, and willcover research updates on
no-till and reduced-till drilledrace projects.
The next event is the RiceProduction Workshop, July 23rd

(05:23):
through the 24th, 2025 in Davis,California.
That's a two-day introductorycourse in rice production to
cover the basics of ricefarming.
Another upcoming event will bethe Weedy Rice Workshop on
August 10th, 2025 in the DeltaSan Joaquin region.
For more information about theseand other upcoming events, feel

(05:45):
free to check out our resources,which include the UC Rice blog
and the UC Agronomy Ricewebsite.
In terms of other resources youmight want to take advantage of,
you can also look at ournewsletters, which include Rice
Briefs, which covers CalusaYolo, Rice Notes, which which
covers Butte and Glen, and FieldNotes, which covers rice in the

(06:09):
Delta region.
Just another note here, ourwebsites are currently in the
middle of a vendor change, andwe know that people have been
having trouble finding ourresources.
We are very sorry about that,and if you run into this
trouble, let one of us know, andwe can try to get that
information to you directly.

UNKNOWN (06:32):
Music

SPEAKER_00 (06:38):
Thanks for listening to Thoughts on Rice, the
University of CaliforniaCooperative Extension podcast
from the University ofCalifornia Agriculture and
Natural Resources.
You can find out more about thispodcast on our website,
thoughtsonrice.buzzsprout.com.
We'd love to hear from you,whether it's from using our text
link in the show notes, a surveysubmission in our feedback form,

(07:01):
also in the show notes, or in acomment or rating on your
podcast streaming service ofchoice.
We're also experienced Thankyou.
Thank you.
Thank you.

(07:37):
Mention of an agrochemical doesnot constitute a recommendation,
merely the sharing of researchfindings.
Always follow the label.
The label is the law.
Find out more at ipm.ucanr.edu.
The views, thoughts, andopinions expressed are the
speaker's own and do notrepresent the views, thoughts,
and opinions of the Universityof California.

(08:00):
The material and informationpresented here is for general
purposes only.
The University of Californianame and all forms and a brief
And its use does not implyendorsement of or opposition to
any specific organization,product or service.