Smaller plantings and a lower average yield were factors that led to a 13 percent decline in U.S. rice production in 2015, according to Delta Farm Press.
Weather-related problems such as flooding in the Mississippi Delta and drought conditions in California and Texas early in the growing season caused an 11.5 percent drop in 2015-16 rice plantings.
Severe weather conditions in much of the South also affected field operations during the growing season. The U.S. average yield fell by 1.4 percent from the previous year.
According to the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS), record production, strong prices and normal weather in the previous year led to a substantial quantity of rice that was carried over when production reached the fourth highest level on record.