OF RICE AND MEN: RESEARCH FARM SEEKS BEST VARIETY OF RICE FOR MISSOURI'S BOOTHEEL

MALDEN, Mo. -- Shaded by a straw hat and wearing black rubber boots, Donn Beighley wades through watery fields in search of better rice.

A Southeast Missouri State University associate professor of agriculture, Beighley's goal is to breed a better rice, one with a short growing season and a high yield.

That could encourage more farmers to plant rice, boosting production of the crop in Missouri's Bootheel, growers say.

Last year, 175,000 acres of rice were grown in the Southeast Missouri counties of Bollinger, Butler, Dunklin, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Ripley, Scott, Mississippi and Stoddard counties. The harvest generated more than 550 million pounds of rice. This year, about 210,000 acres of rice are being grown in the Bootheel.

Growers say that number could double in future years, thanks in part to the breeding program that could pay dividends within a few years.

Beighley's breeding program is taking shape at the Missouri Rice Research Farm west of Malden in Dunklin County. The 40-acre farm is operated by the Missouri Rice Research and Merchandising Council, an organization funded by rice growers in the Bootheel.

Rectangular plots of rice cover much of the flat ground near a metal barn off Route J west of Malden. The rice plants, many of them several feet tall, have long, thin, green leaves that resemble giant blades of grass.

The rest of the acreage is planted in corn and soybeans, two crops that are often rotated with rice.

Growers set up farm

Bootheel rice growers, through their Missouri Rice Research and Merchandising Council, set up the research farm in 1991. Research has been conducted at the farm for years by agricultural experts with the University of Missouri's Delta Center at Portageville. But none of the research focused on breeding better rice plants.

"We felt we needed a rice breeder here," said Larry Riley, a Malden rice farmer and president of the rice council.

Riley, who grows about 320 acres of rice on his farm, said Bootheel farmers currently grow rice developed in more southern states where there is a longer growing season and a warmer climate.

The rice council convinced state lawmakers last year to help fund the breeding program. Southeast, through state funding, pays Beighley's salary and benefits, which this year add up to $67,900.

The council chips in $21,000 a year to pay expenses for the rice breeding program, including $6,000 to pay interns to assist Beighley.

A former Monsanto researcher, Beighley began his job as the Bootheel's rice breeder in February 2000.

Started from scratch

"Basically, we started the rice breeding program from scratch," said Beighley, who has enthusiastically embraced the job.

The heat, humidity and even the mosquitoes don't seem to bother him. He has seen a few snakes in the water-covered fields, but Beighley said he leaves them alone. "We don't see that many," he said.

Since being hired by Southeast, he has taught a few agriculture classes. He has an office in the Bootheel Education Center at Malden. But most of his time is spent at the research farm, raising, breeding and harvesting the rice plants with the help of the interns.

Breeding better rice plants is a hands-on job. It involves cutting the ends of a rice plant, gathering pollen and then spreading the pollen on a different variety.

Beighley estimates there are about 1,000 varieties of rice being grown on the research farm, which spreads over several well-water-irrigated fields. Planted at different times this year, some of the rice probably won't be harvested until late fall, he said.

Water is a key

Rice can be grown in relatively poor soil as long as there is enough water to cover the ground up to a half-inch or inch in depth, Beighley said.

"Rice can be grown on anything from black gumbo to white clay," said the rice council's Riley, who changed from cotton to rice farming in the early 1980s.

That's one reason why rice, which has been grown in Missouri for almost 100 years, has become an increasingly popular crop among Bootheel farmers, said Riley.

Missouri ranks sixth among states in the production of rice. Beighley and Riley said the state isn't far behind Texas and Mississippi in rice production. Arkansas leads the nation, growing about 1.5 million acres of rice annually.

One day soon, Riley believes, the Missouri Bootheel could pass Texas and Mississippi in rice production.

Beighley's breeding work could help harvest such success.