[Crops 101] How to Sow and Harvest Rice

Welcome to your next “Crops 101” lesson of the Farming Simulator Academy! Today, we’re focusing on rice (beware: not long grain rice!). We show you how to plant and harvest the sweet grass. Let’s go!

Rice or long grain rice?

There are two different types of rice in Farming Simulator: Rice and long grain rice. They need different water levels, harvesting machines, and seeds, of course. In this tutorial, we focus on rice. If you want to learn about long grain rice - check the separate tutorial.

Go to Long Grain Rice

What you need for rice

Rice needs to grow in water inside a rice paddy - a field deepened to allow for water retention You can’t grow it on a basic field and therefore need special equipment.

You need an open space to build your rice paddy. Find it in the building menu of the shop. We tell you later how to set it up properly.
You need a tractor to attach the following tools and operate them.
You need a cultivator to prepare the ground for your next harvest.
You need a special planter to plant the rice. This planter also has capacity for fertilizer.
You need a special rice harvester to harvest your plants.
You need a fertilizer spread to apply lime on your field.
And you need a trailer to transport and sell the harvested rice.

Equipment Selection (recommendation)

We chose the following equipment. In the ‘Packs’ section of the shop, you find everything you need. Feel free to make your own purchase decision, but mind the requirements in terms of compatibility and power.

Tractor: Challenger MT635
Cultivator: John Deere 980
Planter: Iseki PRJ8D
Harvester: Iseki HJ6130
Fertilizer spreader: Bredal K105
Trailer: Farmtech EDK 650

Let’s go to work!

Got everything you need? Then let’s start on your assignment and cultivate some rice! Note that you can only grow rice between the beginning of April and the end of May if seasonal growth is enabled. Rice is ready to harvest from the start of August until the end of September.

Step 1: Placing a rice paddy

Open the build mode, open the second menu item and select the cultivation segment. Here you find olive and grape vines as well as rice paddies. Choose the rice field, and you are ready to set it up on your land. Here’s how:

Start placing the first corner of the paddy with the assigned button.
You can create any shape of rice paddy you want.
Be aware, that your water pump will be on the first side you create.
When you are done with your with creating your field, press the respective button to end the creative mode.

Tip! If you are done with rice and want to use the paddy for another crop, just enter the demolition mode while you are in building mode.

Tip! After selling the field, the height difference will stay. Use the ground sculpting mode to level the soil.

Step 2: Planting rice

Before sowing rice, you need to fill your field with water, but keep it up to 60 % filled for the plants to grow. To fill your paddy with water, just interact with the water pump next to your rice field.

After that, fill your planter with saplings and fertilizer, and start driving one row after another until the whole paddy is covered.

Tip! You can grow your very own rice saplings in a specialized greenhouse. If you want to learn more about greenhouses, check the separate tutorial.

Step 3: Managing the water level

Rice is a bit different from other crops. You need to maintain different levels of water at several growth steps. Just interact with the water pump. You can pump water onto and off the field. Don’t worry, the pump will only allow you the necessary step. You can’t do anything wrong.

Just check your water pump daily to maintain the right water level of your rice paddy. If you don’t keep the right water level, you will lose some of your rice saplings.

Step 4: Harvesting rice

Once the plant is ready to harvest, just head over to your harvester and hop in! Drive to one corner of your paddy and start harvesting one row after another until you are done.

When the tank of the harvester is full, drive it up to your trailer, facing it rearward, since it unloads in the back. Press the button to start overloading, and all the harvested rice will be unloaded into your trailer until it’s full.

Step 5: Selling rice

Look at the prices screen in the menu to see where you can get the best prices for your harvest. You can also choose to process the rice. You can sell those products for an even higher price. Depending on, if you want to sell or process, unload in the respective designated area.

If you want to store your harvest to sell later, just unload your trailer or harvester in the designated area of your silo.

Step 6: Preparing for the next harvest

Every third harvest, you also need to apply lime to your field to improve your yield. To grow another batch of rice, just cultivate your rice field. Another placement from the building menu is not necessary.

Well done!