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Rice

Rice production in the Mississippi Delta has increased over recent years. In 2016, 13,929,000 hundredweight was produced on 259 Delta farms. Bolivar county was the top producing county. The value of production in 2016 was $139 million. Alternating wet and dry production is a radical new way to grow rice, and some Mississippi producers are finding the idea not only seems feasible in theory, but also works well in practice.  The technique, known as AWD, grows rice without standing water, which reduces water use by about a third while also maintaining yields. Research also includes a rice breeding program to develop varieties suited for the Mississippi climate and Delta Soils (find out more - http://drec.msstate.edu/rice-breeding) . The Mississippi Rice Promotion Board funds much of the research in rice. Rice research is conducted by scientists in the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES).