Rice Extension Agronomy Newsletter, August 2026

Sam Rustom, Ph.D. // Lina Bernaola, Ph.D. // Young-Ki Jo, PhD

Photo 1. 2026 rice harvest at the David R. Wintermann Rice Research Station in Eagle Lake.

A Surprise from FSA

In last month’s newsletter, released July 15, we talked about the most recent USDA-NASS acreage data, which suggested that there are 113,000 planted rice acres in Texas with 108,000 expected to be harvested. We thought the numbers from USDA-NASS were a little generous, but according to FSA’s certified acreage report released on August 12, we actually picked up a few acres with 116,668 statewide. There’s still a long way to go to get back to the typical 140,000-180,000 acre mark, but we are certainly pleased to see acres not drop below 100,000 like we were afraid of earlier in the year.

Harvest Progress

Also in last month’s newsletter, we highlighted that rice harvest was picking up momentum across Texas. We had a little rain delay that week, but growers have been wide open with harvest ever since, with some growers rolling prior to the rain. In addition, regrowth for the 2026 ratoon crop looks great, much better than what was observed in 2025 under intense rice delphacid pressure.

The most recent USDA Crop Progress Report, released August 3^rd, had Texas rice at 13% harvested. This number seems a little off for a statewide estimation, even for 9 days ago, and seems more reflective of what was happening on the east side of Houston at the time. By today (August 12), it looks like we are around 25-35% through main crop harvest over there. For the west side of Houston, our most recent surveys from the field suggest that approximately 85-95% of the main crop is harvested, with just a little more commercial rice and some seed rice left to go.

The earliest yield reports from around the state suggest that yields for the statewide main crop are average to down approximately 5-15%+ depending on location. Lower yield has been the trend for the earliest planted rice in the state, largely due to increased rainfall and cloudy weather during pollination. We are observing similar trends at the David R. Wintermann Rice Research Station in Eagle Lake, where yields are average to slightly below average for our earliest planted trials.

However, last week we started harvesting trials planted in early April at the station, and yields have been outstanding and well above average. Basically, the later planted rice was not quite as vulnerable as the earlier planted rice because it was not yet at peak pollination when the June rains came through. Reports from the American Rice Growers Association suggest similar trends, noting improvement in both yield and milling quality for rice that was planted in late-March to early/mid-April.

The earliest milling reports we have received reflect a similar situation. Milling yield has been below average for the earliest planted rice in the state, but the rice planted a little later is showing some improvement in milling quality. We are also hearing about fantastic milling yields from CLJ01, the jasmine-type rice line that many Texas farmers are producing this year.

Rainfall Impact in 2026

The Upper Gulf Coast Climate Division of Texas is known as Division 8 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA). The counties contained in Division 8 are essentially the rice growing counties in Texas, and data from here was used to create Figure 1 to give a broad regional overview of 2026 rainfall compared with the previous 10-year average. Looking at the data combined from all counties, we received an average of 1-2 additional inches of rain during May, June, and July of 2026 when compared to the previous 10-year Division 8 rainfall data. However, these rainfall totals are highly variable depending on location in the state.

Figure 1. 2026 Rainfall (inches) for NOAA Climate Division 8 compared with the previous 10-year average for each month.

When talking about rice west of Houston, Garwood is the area that stands out to me regarding rainfall in 2026. Here’s similar rainfall data from Garwood this year, and it tells a little different story than when looking at the Texas Rice Belt as a whole:

Using the RainDrop program with Garwood as the set location, we can estimate rainfall totals for March, April, May, and June compared with 10-year seasonal averages (Figure 2). RainDrop is a virtual rain gauge that estimates rainfall based on high-resolution doppler radar, 10,000+ rain gauges, and satellite observation. According to RainDrop, April, May, and June were substantially wetter than the 10-year seasonal average in Garwood.

April and June are the months where the highest increases in rainfall have been observed in Garwood and the surrounding area so far this year. A large chunk of the commercial rice in the state, especially west of Houston, was planted in early March, meaning it was likely flowering and pollinating in early to mid-June. Unfortunately, that means this rice was vulnerable to damage from these increased rainfall events during some of the most vulnerable growth stages. Rice planted in late March to early April avoided a lot of these issues, as it was pollinating in late June to early July.

Figure 2. 2026 rainfall (inches) using RainDrop, compared with the previous 10-year average rainfall for Garwood, Texas.

Rice Delphacid Update

Dr. Sam Rustom, Dr. Lina Bernaola

As the 2026 main crop wraps up on the west side of Houston, we can finally say with confidence that we made it through without any significant rice delphacid issues, a much-needed improvement from 2025. Populations throughout main crop harvest have remained low for the most part, with very few reports of rice delphacid showing up on combine headers. However, I would encourage growers to remain vigilant with scouting as the ratoon crop is developing. In Eagle Lake in 2025, a relatively low population of rice delphacid with approximately 50-75 in 10 sweeps was able to cause significant damage to our vulnerable ratoon plot regrowth.

Below in Figure 3 are main and ratoon crop yields from a hybrid rice trial from 2025, where poor ratoon performance can be attributed to rice delphacid damage. Typically, a ratoon crop is expected to produce 30-50% of what was produced by the main crop. In this trial, we wanted to evaluate rice delphacid’s impact on the ratoon crop following main crop harvest. Unfortunately, we barely even made 5 to 10% of the main crop yield for all hybrids tested. Other ratoon trials on the station were completely abandoned due to poor regrowth, so keep in mind how vulnerable the early ratoon crop can be as we are trying to get it established.

We have done a fantastic job staying ahead of rice delphacid in 2026. Let’s keep that momentum up as we enter ratoon season!

Figure 3. Main and ratoon crop rough rice yield in pounds per acre for a hybrid rice trial conducted at the David R. Wintermann Rice Research Station in Eagle Lake in 2025.

Rice Delphacid Monitoring

Dr. Sam Rustom, Dr. Lina Bernaola

Current counties with confirmed rice delphacid presence are below. Counties in bold contained fields with visual main crop damage such as hopperburn and/or lodging:

• Victoria
• Wharton
• Matagorda
• Waller
• Brazoria
• Jefferson
• Liberty
• Chambers

As far as rice delphacid population monitoring goes, it should be noted that we are seeing slight localized increases in rice delphacid activity around the state. Populations are slowly on the rise, but we are currently not seeing the widespread explosions and expansion like we saw in 2025. Only two fields in the state have shown visual damage, one in Brazoria County (Photo 2) and the other in Wharton County. Note that the pictured field from Brazoria County has been treated with harvest aid, which makes the issue look worse than it really is. Visual damage is not widespread across these fields and is limited to localized areas in the bottom paddies where rice is lodged.

Photo 2. First hopperburn and rice lodging symptoms observed for 2026 in Brazoria County. The field has been treated with harvest aid.

Reports from Dr. Lina Bernaola, consultants, growers, and industry representatives suggest that rice delphacid nymph activity is slightly increasing in some areas of the state, particularly in Wharton, Matagorda, and Liberty Counties. Expansion of adults in very low numbers has also been observed in recent weeks in fields where rice delphacid was previously undetected in northern Wharton, Waller, and Brazoria Counties. Although unconfirmed, it would not be surprising if there were fields in Colorado or Fort Bend Counties with extremely low numbers as well given their proximity to the current “hot beds.”

For the east side of Houston and in addition to the slightly increased population in Liberty County, Dr. Lina Bernaola’s monitoring program has recently observed an extremely low population expansion into one of her two monitoring fields in Chambers County.

Disease Update

Dr. Young-Ki Jo

During the last two weeks of July, Dr. Young-Ki Jo and Paul Goetze visited over 20 rice fields across the western and eastern rice belt regions, including Colorado, Matagorda, Wharton, Jefferson, Chambers, and Lavaca counties. This is our collaboration effort with County Extension Agents in rice-growing regions. They helped identify rice field locations and collect field information. We surveyed the first crop near harvest to monitor disease and insect pest pressure. Using sweep net sampling, we checked for insect pests but did not detect rice delphacids. However, we observed higher rice kernel smut incidence than last year, with more severe symptoms appearing in inbred and specialty rice varieties. We think the observed levels of infection will not cause any significant yield loss for 2026.

RTWG

The information given herein is for educational purposes only. Reference to commercial products or trade names is made with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service is implied.