Was an AT in a F14 squadron on the USS Independence. Worked in Deceptive Electronic Counter Measures.
Damn. We hauled ours to the dryer in town. And I can't remember the yield we got per acre. This was in the late '50s & early '60s.
Back then 30 barrels per acre was good. They make that much on the top-crop now. That's the second crop. After they cut it, they flood it again and it re-sprouts. Today, 60 is common on the first cut. Price is still the same as the 60's though. Combines/Rice harvesters are 300k now.
30 barrels sounds about right. And holy smoke, 300k for a combine. Do you still have the common man rice farming or is it all big corporations?
Fewer farmers with may more acreage. My grandfather used to have 100 acres of rice. My neighbor has 1,000. That's rice, he also farms soybeans.
Not sure on acreage but my old paw-paw worked family field in Mamou. I remember as a kid, how much emphasis he put on a sharp shovel. Still have his.
Yeah we used to open up levees with them. Now they use backhoes but have way less levees cause they use "scrapers" to laser level fields as much as the slope of the land allows.