Does Rice Farming Make People More Cooperative?

There is a theory that it does:

Ask Americans to describe themselves, and chances are you'll get adjectives like "energetic," "friendly" or "hard-working."
In Japan, the responses would likely be much different. "Dependent on others" and "considerate" might pop up, studies have found.
Psychologists have known for a long time that people in East Asia think differently, on average, than do those in the U.S. and Europe. Easterners indeed tend to be more cooperative and intuitive, while Westerners lean toward individualism and analytical thinking.
Now psychologists have evidence that our ancestors planted some of these cultural differences hundreds of years ago when they chose which grains to sow.
"We call it the rice theory," says , a graduate student at the University of Virginia who led the study. "Rice is a really special kind of farming."
The idea is simple. Growing rice tends to foster cultures that are more cooperative and interconnected, Talhelm and his colleagues Thursday in the journal Science.
Why? Because farming rice paddies requires collaboration with your neighbors, Talhelm tells The Salt. Self-reliance is dangerous.
"Families have to flood and drain their field at the same time," he says. " So there are punishments for being too individualistic. If you flood too early, you would really piss off your neighbors."
Rice paddies also require irrigation systems. "That cost falls on the village, not just one family," he says. "So villages have to figure out a way to coordinate and pay for and maintain this system. It makes people cooperate."
Wheat, on the other hand, as well as barley and corn, doesn't generally require irrigation — or much collaboration. One family alone can plant, grow and harvest a field of wheat, without the help of others.
So wheat farming fosters cultures with more individualism, independence and innovation, Talhelm and his colleagues say. Self-reliance and innovation are rewarded.

I call shenanigans. For one, back in the days of threshing machines, it was common for neighbors to share a machine and take turns pitching in at each others' farms.  Barn raisings, corn husking parties and other events were cooperative and social efforts that brightened a life of back-breaking work and drudgery.  One of the best contributions of modern farm life from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were farmer cooperatives, which make people cooperate.

But on a more basic level, are northeastern Arkansas rice farmers more considerate and cooperative than other farmers in the United States?  Are they more like Chinese or Japanese farmers?  I'd wager they aren't.