Rice
Mississippi’s modern commercial rice production began in 1948 when Rex Kimbrell produced about 300 acres just south of Greenville in Washington County. By 1954, about 77,000 acres were harvested. After the 1954 crop, the U.S. government instituted acreage controls, and only 52,000 acres were harvested in 1955. Rice culture in the Mississippi Delta was limited by this government program, not producer interest. After the acreage control program was eliminated in 1973, the harvested acreage increased to 108,000 acres in 1974. In the following years, rice production increased rapidly, reaching a high of 335,000 harvested acres and 14.4 million hundredweight (cwt) in 1981.
Rice production in Mississippi has been almost totally limited to the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, with very little production outside this area. Historically, the central-Delta counties of Bolivar, Sunflower, and Washington have been the leading rice-producing counties. In recent years, Tunica County has increased rice acreage and annually ranks in the top three counties for rice production in Mississippi.
The table below shows United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency certified rice acres planted by county in Mississippi, 2009-2014.
County | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adams | 240 | 0 | 0 | 192 | 0 | 0 |
Attala | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bolivar | 72,333 | 80,255 | 50,813 | 34,956 | 33,734 | 47,702 |
Carroll | 205 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Coahoma | 14,761 | 25,032 | 11,370 | 8,797 | 8,109 | 14,453 |
DeSoto | 859 | 1,156 | 335 | 553 | 1,190 | 2,316 |
Grenada | 171 | 321 | 328 | 282 | 282 | 0 |
Holmes | 1,485 | 1,448 | 234 | 141 | 121 | 203 |
Humphreys | 3,656 | 8,241 | 1,996 | 1,955 | 1,475 | 3,426 |
Issaquena | 783 | 2,702 | 880 | 890 | 1,115 | 483 |
Jackson | 55 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Lee | 10 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 3 |
Leflore | 17,107 | 20,144 | 6,754 | 5,328 | 3,905 | 6,000 |
Panola | 4,777 | 6,446 | 5,383 | 5,901 | 5,523 | 10,188 |
Quitman | 11,031 | 20,170 | 6,360 | 8,440 | 8,766 | 15,565 |
Sharkey | 1,951 | 5,390 | 855 | 306 | 433 | 857 |
Suflower | 38,227 | 45,676 | 19,351 | 14,253 | 13,635 | 25,241 |
Tallahatchie | 14,081 | 19,314 | 6,267 | 6,460 | 6,964 | 12,859 |
Tate | 905 | 944 | 869 | 828 | 934 | 1,082 |
Tunica | 23,913 | 27,041 | 23,167 | 21,696 | 24,603 | 28,608 |
Washington | 29,507 | 35,736 | 18,854 | 14,687 | 11,480 | 15,690 |
Yazoo | 1,841 | 1,907 | 2,273 | 765 | 0 | 867 |
Total | 237,898 | 302,019 | 156,107 | 126,440 | 122,272 | 185,543 |
Publications
News
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Online preregistration for Mississippi’s premier row crop course is open.
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Bolivar County, Mississippi, is the place to be for rice connoisseurs Sept. 21.
STONEVILLE, Miss. -- After taking a break from rice last year, Mississippi producers who typically grow the crop have returned to it this year. Hunter Bowman, Mississippi State University Extension Service rice specialist, said growers in the state have planted 119,000 acres of rice. That’s well over the 84,500 acres planted in 2022.
Success Stories
National Rice Month doesn’t just offer rice producers an opportunity to celebrate—it gives them the chance to enjoy the cooked and served finished products, too! There was something for everyone in Merigold on the third Thursday of September at the annual rice celebration in Bolivar County: Rice Fest.
On paper, Mike Wagner seems like an ordinary, successful Mississippi producer, but, in person, he defies expectations.
Following its 2020 cancellation, the Mississippi State University Extension Service’s Row Crop Short Course hosted 675 people from Mississippi and neighboring states.