USA
October 31, 2019
With farmers reporting the persistent spread of weedy rice and resistance issues, resulting in significantly reduced yields and profits, the Provisia® Rice System, with varieties PVL01 and new PVL02, is giving them hope — and results.
The system, developed by BASF, is the only chemical solution to the weedy rice complex and resistant grasses greatly impacting rice yields in many areas of the South. PVL01, developed by the LSU AgCenter, has been the sole Provisia variety available for planting in 2018 and 2019. After two years of commercial production of the Provisia Rice System, we have experienced phenomenal grass and weedy rice control in severely infested fields. Fields that had been either taken completely out of production or had reverted back to the water-seeded system can grow clean rice again using the drill-seeded, delayed-flood system, which offers the most agronomically efficient and environmentally friendly means to grow rice.
One hindrance to Provisia adoption, however, has been the “yield drag” that often accompanies a newly launched technology. It is no secret that PVL01 and even new PVL02 aren’t as adapted to the South as varietal standards like CL153, Mermentau and Diamond. However, yield comparisons for Provisia varieties should not be made from university yield trials because those are conducted in fields free of weedy rice.
A true measure of the benefits of the technology would be to conduct performance trials in weedy rice-infested fields. Since these trials aren’t typically conducted by universities, and for good reasons, Table 1 depicts real-world scenarios where the overall field yield average is being impacted by yield-robbing weedy rice and/or herbicide resistant grass. For example, if 50% of the field is being impacted by a 50% yield loss due to uncontrolled weedy rice and grass, an 8,000 pound per acre field (178 bushels per acre; 49 barrels per acre) can turn into a 6,000 pound per acre field (133 bushels per acre; 37 barrels per acre). Table 2 shows that this translates into an overall $200+ per acre loss to the farmer.
Table 1. Field yield potential and resulting outcome at varying levels of weedy rice and uncontrolled grass.
Table 2. Financial loss per acre at varying weedy rice and uncontrolled grass levels.
Horizon Ag is excited to launch variety PVL02 commercially on a limited basis in 2020. In evaluating PVL02 across many variety trials throughout the South, we believe PVL02 brings more stable yields, improved milling outturn and earliness and better blast tolerance. This was definitely observed in Louisiana, where the growing season greatly impacted yields across the board and where PVL02 yielded almost 1,000 pounds more per acre compared to PVL01.
Horizon Ag encourages all farmers and those charged with varietal decisions to fully consider the cost of continuing to wait on Provisia Rice System adoption. As we’ve seen for the past several years, the problem is only getting worse. Dayton Pharr, a Pine Bluff, Arkansas, farmer who has grown PVL01 for two years, said, “The Provisia Rice System is a great product that was much needed in the rice farming community — a system that will clean fields and make money!”
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