The area expansion was primarily due to relatively attractive prices for rice at planting compared with alternative crops, especially soybeans in the South. While rice prices had slowly been declining for almost 2 years, they had not dropped as fast as prices for soybeans, the primary rotation crop in the South. Plantings expanded in every State except Texas, with record seedings reported for Arkansas and Missouri. Plantings were a near-record in Mississippi. Based on farmer surveys conducted in early November, the national average yield is forecast at 5,929 pounds per acre, up from 5,669 pounds a year earlier, but still below the record 6,120 pounds in 1996.
Yields are up in all States except Mississippi and Missouri, where they are down only slightly.
Record yields are projected for Louisiana and Texas. Although California's yield is projected up 2 percent from last year's extremely low level, it is still one of the lowest since 1982. Production is up in every State, with record crops projected for Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri. Mississippi's crop is projected to be a near-record. Production is up for all grain types as well.