We Cannot Allow Haiti To Become The Next Somalia, Cassidy
Haiti is on the edge of failure. The recent earthquake and the assassination of President Moise Jovenel has pushed already weak institutions and a dangerous security situation over the edge making normal trade impossible. One U.S. industry has been hit particularly hard: rice farmers. Rice exporters from Louisiana have been trying to navigate the security situation in Port-Au-Prince to get life-saving American food into stores, but have been met with the terror of gangs that will not allow them to trade freely. Continuing to ignore the quickly deteriorating situation in our neighbor’s capital city comes at the expense of U.S. economic and national security.
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$21M Rice Mill Should Be Complete by Next Harvest
Construction is set to begin later this fall on a new $21 million rice mill at the Lacassine Industrial Park.
The Jeff Davis Parish Police Jury unanimously approved a recommendation Wednesday from the South Louisiana Rail Facility to award the construction bid to Hogenson Construction Company of West Fargo, N.D.
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Rice Harvest Report For North LA, AR, MS & MO
MID-SOUTH RICE COUNTRY -- Rice harvest is well underway in the northern rice production area of the mid-south where a high percentage of U.S. rice is grown. In general, yields have been good to excellent while head rice milling yields are off-somewhat.
More than 50 percent of Arkansas rice is harvested at this point, according to Dr. Jarrod Hardke, University of Arkansas rice extension specialist, as harvest completion ranges between 30-75 percent for individual producers. “Yields have mostly been exceptional with occasional poor fields as outliers,” said Hardke. “Milling quality has been below average and extremely erratic with some good and above average milling out there but they are the exceptions. Peck levels are notably higher than last year.”
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First Ever Delta Rice Festival Takes To The Streets To Celebrate National Rice Month
MERIGOLD, MS -- Yesterday Delta Rice Promotions, the rice promotion board representing Mississippi, held its annual National Rice Month (NRM) celebration here. After a downsizing of the event due to COVID-19 in 2020, the historic event returned stronger than ever in a brand-new format transitioning from the traditional Delta Rice Tasting Luncheon to the Delta Rice Festival. The festival format allowed for a larger outdoor celebration of NRM while also increasing the event offerings for the public.
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Arkansas Family Owned Rice Mill Is First US Exporter To Ship Long Grain Rice To China
Today, Ralston Family Farms announced a 9-metric ton (MT) commercial sale of long grain rice to China that arrived in July, the first U.S. rice shipment grown and sold there out of the mid-south. The shipment is just the second commercial U.S. shipment to be sold and unloaded in China since a phytosanitary protocol was signed in 2017. The first was 20 MT of California medium grain, shipped by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Rice last fall.
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Growers Stay Vigilant Against Weedy Rice
The use of certified seed, equipment sanitation and crop rotation are among the tools California growers are using to curb instances of weedy rice, university crop advisors say.
Most growers are scouting at least monthly for weedy rice and finding that other weed species are more prevalent even for those who have it, according to a University of California survey.
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Politics Prioritized Over Aid, Despite Rep. Letlow’s Best Efforts
This week, the House Agriculture Committee passed its portion of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, including more than $94 billion in new spending related to agriculture.
For Louisiana, there is a glaring hole in that spending plan as it is lacking supplemental disaster assistance for farmers and ranchers after Hurricane Ida ravaged the state last month.
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H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station: A Rich History Of Research & Variety Development
Rice production in southwest Louisiana began in earnest during the early 1880s. The rice industry rapidly increased in the region in the years that followed. From 1896 to 1909, rice acreage in southwest Louisiana expanded from 148,000 to 370,000 acres with average rice yields ranging from a low of 855 pounds per acre in 1896 to a high of 1,642 pounds per acre in 1908. Rice industry leaders in the region recognized the importance of rice to southwest Louisiana and began to take measures to ensure the sustainability of the rice industry. The leaders knew that if the rice industry was to maintain a foothold in the region, experimentation and incorporation of improved rice cultivars and agriculture practices would be essential.
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Severe Outbreaks Of Kernel Smut In TX/LA Rice
Severe outbreaks of rice kernel smut, caused by the Tilletia horrida fungus, occurred across Texas. Smutted rice, which is characterized by replacement of rice grains with a black, sooth mass of smut spores, was observed in each of the rice fields surveyed in early August. Kernel smut widely occurred in the east and west areas of Houston, two major rice production areas in Texas.
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National Rice Month '21 Off To A Strong Start
More than thirty years ago, an act of Congress designated September as National Rice Month (NRM), and ever since the U.S. rice industry has capitalized on the annual month-long celebration to raise awareness of U.S.-grown rice and recognize the contributions the U.S. rice industry makes to America’s economy.
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Rice Harvest Nearing Completion, Yields Better Than Expected
They are more than halfway through the Louisiana rice harvest, and many producers are pleased with the results. Less-than-ideal growing conditions throughout the season had expectations low, but yields have been better than anticipated. LSU AgCenter correspondent Craig Gautreaux has the story from southwest Louisiana.
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LFBF Hosts New House Congressional Staffers on August Recess Ag Tour
A pandemic has restricted many things, but for the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, it has limited our ability to bring our members directly to their elected officials, particularly those serving in Washington D.C.
Also, with four out of the six House of Representative staffers of Louisiana’s delegation being new to their jobs, we thought it was the perfect time to bring these important individuals to the farm.
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Representative Letlow Tours Southwest Louisiana Rice Country
Last week, freshman Representative Julia Letlow (R-LA), who represents Louisiana’s 5th District, toured the area to meet with the state’s rice industry leaders.
Letlow and her staff started the day in Lake Charles where they met with Mayor Nik Hunter for an update on the progress of recovery efforts there in the wake of last year’s Hurricanes Laura and Delta.
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Entomology Society Fetes LSU’s Blake Wilson With Early Career Extension Award
The Entomology Society of America recently recognized a handful of scientists, educators and students who have distinguished themselves through their contributions to entomology.
Among those was Dr. Blake Wilson of the Louisiana State University AgCenter, who received received the ECP Extension Award. It is given to a student transition or early professional who excels in entomological Extension.
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Rice Prices High Despite Ample Supply
The COVID-19 pandemic created a spike in global rice prices in the second quarter of 2020, according to a new University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture report. Since then, rice prices have remained higher than expected despite ample rice stocks and a record 2020 global rice production.
“Most commodity prices went down during the pandemic because of lower demand,” said Alvaro Durand-Morat, assistant professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the Division of Agriculture’s research arm. “But rice went the other way.”
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