USA Rice participated in the first annual Louisiana Global Leadership Exchange here on October 24. Led by Louisiana's elected officials, the Exchange brought the state’s public and private sectors together with decision-makers across Africa and the African diaspora. The City of New Orleans delivered the welcome remarks, and the embassies of Sierra Leone and Liberia presented their national priorities.
Read MoreUSDA’s October World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report further confirmed that this year’s U.S. rice crop will be one of the smallest in decades.
Read MoreDr. Michael Deliberto is a professor of agricultural policy at Louisiana State University. Goes over some of the ins and outs of the new USDA relief program.
Read MoreOn Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency published the 2025 Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payment rates for southern long grain and medium grain rice and assistance should be hitting participating producers’ accounts as early as today. The 2025 crop year marks the first year rice farmers will receive the enhanced protections provided under the modernized farm safety net provisions enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). For rice farming, the PLC program is the cornerstone of the rice farm safety net, which OBBBA strengthened by raising the statutory reference price for long and medium grain rice to $16.90/cwt.
Read MoreToday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans to purchase $472.5 million in American-grown and raised commodities, including $21 million in U.S.-grown long grain rice for distribution through domestic nutrition programs. USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) continuously purchases agricultural commodities under Section 32 of the Agriculture Act of 1935 to assist producers and strengthen communities in need, which are funded by customs receipts transferred to the department.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced its intent to purchase up to $472.5 million in American-grown and American-raised agricultural commodities to distribute to the charitable food network and other nutrition assistance programs.
Read MoreThe Rice Stewardship Partnership has secured $8.9 million through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), administered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), to support shallow water flooding of harvested rice fields across the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. USA Rice will serve as lead partner for the project, building on its longstanding collaboration with Ducks Unlimited and other conservation and industry partners to deliver resources to rice producers.
The project will provide financial and technical assistance to producers who manage their fields for migratory bird habitat following harvest. Mississippi will serve as the lead state, with the project covering rice-producing areas of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and selected counties in Illinois.
Read MoreAl Awees, the Iraqi government’s buying agent, confirmed another 44,000 metric ton (MT) purchase of U.S. rice yesterday, with the vessel expected to sail in January 2027. This sale builds on a purchase covering two vessels made this summer, and marks the first shipment of the 2027 USA Rice-Al Awees memorandum of understanding (MOU) which calls for the purchase of 200,000 MT of U.S. rice annually.
Read MoreChoice of varieties for planting is a crucial management decision that sets the stage for yield potential and input costs. While grain yield is the most important factor, test weight, disease resistance, and heading date are important considerations as they also impact economic return.
Test weight is important because low test weight results in dockage at the elevator. Heading day is a function of cold requirement (vernalization) and day length (photoperiod) response that determines when a variety heads out.
Read MoreThe 89th International Rice Festival (IRF) was held here last weekend and once again, the mighty grain, and the men and women who raise it, mill it, and send it around the world, were celebrated in typical Louisiana fashion on two enormous soundstages and around the community.
Read MoreThe 89th International Rice Festival, held here this past weekend, was a grand time per usual – full of parading, live music, dancing, socializing, and, of course, eating rice. But this year, the USA Rice family had extra cause to celebrate. Ahead of the festival, Kane Webb, USA Rice director of field services, was selected as this year’s honoree.
Read MoreThe USDA’s October Rice Outlook examines the latest developments in the U.S. rice industry, including production forecasts, crop conditions, supply and demand, trade and market prices. The report offers an updated look at the factors shaping the rice market and provides valuable insight for Louisiana rice producers as they navigate the current growing season and look ahead to the next marketing year.
Read MoreThroughout the month of September, USA Rice celebrated 2026 National Rice Month (NRM) by highlighting U.S.-grown rice and celebrating the men and women behind the grain through consumer outreach, social media, recipes, chain partnerships, and events promoting the U.S.-rice industry.
Read MoreDowntown Crowley will welcome festivalgoers for four days of music, food, carnival rides and rice traditions when the 89th International Rice Festival returns Oct. 15-18.
Read MoreThe company is lowering the price on two of its most widely planted varieties. It says the decision has less to do with those varieties and more to do with the economics growers are facing right now.
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