Rice & Waterfowl Ecosystem. Steve K Balas Graduated BS in Pharmacy in 1969 Started Farming Rice...
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Transcript of Rice & Waterfowl Ecosystem. Steve K Balas Graduated BS in Pharmacy in 1969 Started Farming Rice...
Rice Production Has Changed since 1973
We yield over twice as much rice per acre today as we were in 1973
Wildlife still loves our rice just as they did in 1973 even more so because we can control the water better
Production Improvements since 1973
• Hybrid Seed has more than doubled yields from 48 hundred pounds acre to over 130 hundred pounds per acre with same inputs and less water
What Laser Leveling Does
• Saves Water• Saves Labor• Use less fertilizer and Herbicide's• Easier on Equipment• Higher Yields• We can flood large areas for wildlife and
control the water better
Rice Feeds the World
• Rice Feeds over 50% of the world every day
• In Asia, Africa and the Middle East there are a lot of hungry people and this can create unstable governments
Problems for the Rice industry
Embargoes and Foreign Governments
Rice is an expensive crop currently costs about $1,200 per acre.
Rice Price is World Price Set by Thailand
U S Government Regulations and using food to threaten foreign countries
Ecosystem Services
• It is going to take something like Ecosystem Services to keep land in our area in production to have the open habitat for the wildlife in eastern Texas. The only way I believe you can do this is Keep the land in ownership by someone who loves the land.
• This is what helped make• this country from the beginning.
Loss of Land from Family Control
• The Industry looses land as families pass their property down and their children divide it up or have to sell it
How I Feel about the land
WE ARE TRULY KEEPERS OF THE LAND.
THE ONLY WAY WE CAN MAINTAIN OUR LAND AND WATER IS TO TAKE CARE OF THEM FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS (THIS INCLUDES WILDLIFE.
THIS IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY AND DUTY THAT WE NEED TO TAKE SERIOUSLY