In 1877 the Desert Land Act encouraged development of irrigation in arid lands. It offered land at 25 cents per acre if irrigated and cultivated for 3 years
For 2025/26, all rice production is lowered 0.6 million cwt to 206.7 million on lower medium-/short-grain production that more than offsets an increase in long-grain yield gains. Implied disappearance from the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Rice Stocks report contributes to utilization and stocks updates. For 2025/26, implied all rice use for August−November—as indicated by the USDA, NASS December 1 stocks—leads to a 5-million cwt elevation of food and residual use, all on gains for long-grain rice. After adjusting new-crop rice exports lower based on the pace of sales and shipments, all rice ending stocks for 2025/26 are reduced 3.6 million cwt to 49.3 million, down 8.5 percent from the highest ending stocks since the mid-1980's for the 2024/25 marketing year. Additionally, based on data released in the USDA, NASS Crop Production 2025 Summary, U.S. all rice production for 2024/25 is raised 0.5 million hundredweight (cwt) to 222.6 million—mainly on modestly elevated area and yields for medium- and short-grain rice.
