Evaluation of Upland Rice Suitability for the Northeast Through Testing SRI Principles and Measuring Yield Across Varieties

Commodities

• Agronomic: rice

Practices

• Crop Production: cropping systems, seed saving, varieties and cultivars
• Education and Training: farmer to farmer, networking, workshop
• Production Systems: organic agriculture

The Evaluation of Upland Rice Suitability for the Northeast Through Testing System of Rice Intensification (SRI) Principles and Measuring Yield Across Varieties is focused on advancing the viability of rice production in our region. Our objectives are:

• To move beyond the standard practices farmers are currently employing to cultivate rice, which depends on the installation of capital-intensive paddy systems and non-regionally adapted cultivars, to create improved cropping systems and varieties that are highly productive for the Northeast.  

• To increase the likelihood that farmers, especially newer farmers and those without land tenure, will include rice in their rotations through the adoption of an upland-based production system.

We plan to accomplish this by:

• Testing SRI principles, which is a system of practices that has improved yields in rice production around the world, by transplanting rice seedlings earlier and giving more space for individual plants.

• Collecting and interpreting  data (plant height, thousand seed weight, lodging, yield, taste, milling quality) across 10 varieties to determine which varieties are best suited to our climate and identify potential parent lines for future on-farm rice breeding projects.

Our outreach strategy to share our learnings includes:

• Host an Upland Rice Field Day, co-sponsored by Scenic Hudson

• Hold a Rice Variety Showcase and taste test with award-winning Chef Daniel Meissner of Willa on Main in Millerton, NY 

• Publish a white paper with our research findings

• Share our findings with the cohort of farmers and technical advisors that emerged out of the Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Rice Project

Research Objectives:

1. To determine if the SRI (System of Rice Intensification) principle built on early transplant of rice seedlings at 9,15, and 21 days provides an increase in yield compared to the industry standard of 28 days.
2. To determine which transplant treatment described above provides the greatest whole grain rice yield on the per hectare and per acre basis in three cultivars.
3. To evaluate ten rice cultivars of diverse origin and grain class for suitability for production in the Northeast by measuring disease incidence, lodging susceptibility, and other phenotypic traits described in Materials and Methods Table 2 in addition to yield and milling quality.
4. To conduct a consumer taste test of all ten cultivars in the variety trial to determine which are most palatable.

Outreach Objectives:

1. To share information learned from this project with producers and advance knowledge on rice production in the Northeast so that more new farmers, who often focus on vegetable production on leased land, can integrate rice into their crop rotation through a field day focused on upland rice production. 
2. To educate the public and producers on upland rice production and expose the public to the diversity present in rice germplasm through a Variety Showcase and Taste Test hosted at a local restaurant, Willa on Main.
3. To develop and distribute a comprehensive report detailing our findings to the general and farming public.
4. To publish articles on the trial in the Growing for Market magazine and Small Farmers Journal.
5. To present findings to the Cornell Rice Project Cohort at their next meeting.