Based on research studies, Slaton says, we likely won t recommend any copper compounds for panicle blight or false smut. They didn t provide 100 percent control, and we had concerns with reduced yields. A good year, not a great year, says Jack Williams, University of California Extension farm adviser and county director for Sutter and Yuba counties. We had some wide temperature extremes, but nothing like 1999, when cold weather during a critical period caused blanking. The most recent estimate of yield is 8,000 to 8,100 pounds per acre, across all varieties.
Quality is good.
Growers planted about 10,000 acres of sweet rice in 2000, Williams says. Premium short-grains dropped from a 7 percent share of the acreage in 1999 to just 2.1 percent, and sweet rice acreage dropped to 2.2 percent, about half of 1999. Medium-grain picked up the slack, he says. Low levels of blast were evident, but the area affected did expand to a previously blast-free county. We re working to establish baselines for stem rot and aggregate sheath spot, Williams says.