$250M Included For US Rice Farmers In Omnibus Spending Package

By Peter Bachmann

USA Rice

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate has passed a $1.7 trillion year-end spending package, referred to as an omnibus bill, that funds the Federal government for the remainder of the 2023 fiscal year. In addition to keeping the government funded, the bill also includes a number of other legislative initiatives, including $250 million for U.S. rice farmers to help offset major losses in a year with flat prices and record high input costs.

“It has been a difficult year for rice producers,” said Senator John Boozman (R-AR), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. “Soaring input costs have hurt producers of every commodity, but—as documented by two separate studies out of Texas A&M University—had a disproportionate impact on rice producers. I am pleased we came together to address this challenge in the year-end bill.”

This rice-specific relief was made at the request of USA Rice, originating with the USA Rice Farmers, the leading national organization representing rice farmers in all rice producing states. A 2022 study by Texas A&M’s Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) showed that as many as two-thirds of their representative rice farms are expected to see negative margins this year.

“USA Rice commends the steadfast leadership of Senator John Boozman for not only bringing this long-awaited assistance to fruition but championing this request for us since we first started advocating to USDA for help in February of this year,” said Kirk Satterfield, Mississippi rice farmer and chair of USA Rice. “We are confident that the House will pass this bill and President Biden will sign it into law. We will continue working with Congress and USDA as the implementation process unfolds in early 2023.”

Like other farmers, rice farmers saw input costs, such as fertilizer, fuel, and seed hit record levels in 2022, however, unlike other commodities, the prices received by rice farmers before and at harvest did not see comparable increases. A separate study by the AFPC showed that fertilizer hikes resulted in a $62 per acre increase over 2021 for rice farms. This created a situation where many producers are facing significant losses this year and unaided, could lead to further reductions in rice acreage in 2023.

World rice prices were stagnant in 2022 because of the impact of bad actors, like India, who controls 40 percent of world rice trade and artificially suppresses the world rice price through excessive domestic producer and export subsidies.

“This assistance will go a long way in helping to sustain not just the thousands of rice farms across the U.S. but also the many rural businesses and communities that rely on rice production to support their local economies,” said Bobby Hanks, Louisiana rice miller and chair of the USA Rice International Trade Policy Committee. “We can now refocus our efforts at the World Trade Organization as we continue to urge the U.S. Trade Representative to hold India accountable for their over-subsidization of the rice sector.”

Satterfield continued: “Farming is a credit-heavy business, so this shot in the arm for our industry sends an important signal to the financial community as we make plans for next year’s crop. We will continue working closely with legislators to further augment the farm safety net with much needed improvements next year as the 2023 Farm Bill is written.”

U.S. rice farmers grow nearly 80 percent of rice consumed in the U.S. and export to six continents and more than 120 countries across the world. Rice farms reinvest and support hundreds of local, rural economies through associated jobs and businesses with each farm contributing $1 million to those local economies.