USA Rice Sustainability Award Stays In Louisiana This Year

By Deborah Willenborg

USA Rice

The USA Rice Sustainability Award was created in 2016 to recognize the efforts of all segments of the industry to not only conserve natural resources, but to find innovative ways to address all three pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic, and social sustainability. A subcommittee of the USA Rice Sustainability Committee chooses the winner based on several criteria, including leadership in the industry and broader sustainability community, and a history of promoting and advancing sustainability through innovative practices. 

Supreme Rice LLC, based in Crowley, Louisiana, is the 2025 USA Rice Sustainability Award recipient for their longstanding partnership with their farmer customers and for fostering the concept that their farmers are stewards of the land with pride in providing habitat for wildlife, in building soil health, in conservation, and in nurturing the crops grown to feed families.

Over the years, Supreme’s sustainable initiatives in rice production have ranged from supporting and promoting the Louisiana Master Farmer Program, to pilot projects with milled rice customers, to providing custom harvesting services at cost to offset their farmers’ capital expenditures. While not traditionally thought of as a sustainable program, this service is part of their multifaceted approach to help keep their farmers farming, bringing the benefits of scale and technology to small and medium sized farms with capital limitations. In custom harvest operations specifically, their team is involved in the entire farming process with their farmers from varietal selection and field boundary mapping, to planting method decisions and in-season crop scouting. 

Currently ongoing is Supreme’s largest sustainable and farmer-focused initiative yet: Supreme Rice, LLC’s Climate-Smart Initiative (Initiative). The initiative is part of the Advancing Markets for Producers grant, formerly known as the Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities grant and was awarded in 2023. 

At Supreme, “sustainable rice farming” means farming for the future: for future generations, for future population growth, for the preservation of our natural resources for the future.