Yara's Incubator Farm Network: Part 5 - Rice

·38 min·2 clips

Chris says the system may cut methane and nitrous oxide at the same time by holding soil in a narrow moisture zone.

This installment completes the fifth and final episode in the incubator farm series. Scott Warr opens by restating the purpose of the Yara North America incubator farms. The farms are built to find innovative ways to improve productivity while keeping sustainability and profitability in view. He then takes the conversation to the Arkansas Delta Incubator Farm in Poinsett County, Arkansas. The setting matters because that county is a leader in rice production. The farm is working on nutrient use efficiency. It is also working on water use efficiency. Greenhouse gas reduction is part of the brief as well. The white soils of the Arkansas Delta create a distinct production environment. A tailwater recovery system is one of the farm's standout features. Scott asks about the collaboration with the University of Arkansas. Neil explains that the university is at the forefront of rice research. He says that going to the experts was necessary if the team wanted to learn rice well enough to adopt new practices. He also wanted to integrate products in ways that make nutrient use efficiency more effective and help mitigate greenhouse gases. That collaboration helped determine that the Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center was the right place for the incubator farm. Dr. Henry then walks through the usual irrigation and fertilization pattern for flooded rice in the area. Farmers plant the crop, pull the levees, spray it, and then apply fertilizer. Some producers put everything out front and irrigate it in. Others spread the fertilizer across four applications. The reason for splitting it is to better match the crop's need over time. Dr. Henry points to the central problem of knowing how much fertilizer is really needed ahead of time. The episode ends with hopes that the work will spread beyond Arkansas and possibly beyond North America. The team also wants to see whether 2023 was a fluke or a result they can replicate and improve after harvest when the numbers are crunched.

As heard by us

A practical rice management conversation with enough field detail to stay useful.

This episode treats rice nutrient management as a set of practical tradeoffs: where fertilizer goes, how water is managed, and what that means for yield in the Arkansas Delta.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a practical look at rice nutrient and water use, this episode follows a Yara incubator farm in the Arkansas Delta.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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