51st Eagle Lake Rice Field Day set for June 24

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas A&M AgriLife Research will host the 51st annual Eagle Lake Rice Field Day on June 24 in Eagle Lake. 

The event will begin at 4 p.m. at the David R. Wintermann Rice Research Station, Farm-to-Market Road 102, followed by an evening program at the Eagle Lake Community Center, 100 N. Walnut Ave.

The field day offers producers the opportunity to tour the research station as well as hear from agency experts on specialty rice breeding, plant physiology, plant nutrition, and insect, weed and disease management. 

Two Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be provided to private pesticide license holders, and a catered meal will be provided during the evening program. 

Tour topics, speakers

The following are scheduled tour stops and speakers from Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Beaumont:

• Breeding program updates on advanced lines and discussion about potential release — Shyamal Talukder, Ph.D., AgriLife Research hybrid rice breeder and assistant professor, Texas A&M Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. 
• Breeding for high amylose rice, jasmine rice and basmati-type rice at Texas A&M AgriLife Research — Omar Samonte, Ph.D., AgriLife Research rice breeder and associate professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. 
• Hoja blanca: Identifying and managing this invasive viral disease now emerging in Texas, and Kernel smut: Using spore trapping for early detection and applying fungicides for effective control — Shane Zhou, Ph.D., AgriLife Research plant pathologist and professor, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology. 
• The potential for new and recently released rice — Sam Rustom, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agronomist and assistant professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.
• Alternate wetting and drying in nitrogen on rice — Fugen Dou, Ph.D., AgriLife Research scientist in crop nutrient management and professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. 
• Promising plant growth regulators for Texas rice crop production — Lee Tarpley, Ph.D., AgriLife Research plant physiologist and professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.
• Insect pest management updates — Lina Bernaola, Ph.D., AgriLife Research entomologist and assistant professor, Department of Entomology.

Evening program agenda

The evening program will begin with a special recognition of the David R. and Eula Wintermann Foundation’s support of rice research. 

Mithila Jugulum, Ph.D., director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Beaumont and professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, will provide an overview of the center’s research. She will also present “Growing Together: The Road Ahead for the AgriLife Beaumont Center and Our Rice Producers.”

Natalie Graff, Ph.D., research assistant professor, Texas A&M Food and Ag Policy Center, Department of Agricultural Economics, will update producers on the farm bill and other agricultural policies affecting the rice industry.

Rustom will conclude the evening by providing an update on Texas rice pest management for 2025. 

For more information, contact the research station at 979-234-3578 or call the AgriLife Extension office in Colorado County at 979-732-2082.