Last weekend’s National Rice Month (NRM) festivities here had something for everyone as Kids Day kicked off with Mayor Tim Monceaux signing a proclamation declaring September as National Rice Month in Crowley, the Rice Capital of the World. Joining Mayor Monceaux was International Rice Festival Queen Jimi Joubert who reminded everyone that “September is National Rice Month, but every day is Rice Day in Crowley!”

Hundreds of children and their parents made their way through City Hall, where USA Rice teamed up with Acadia Parish Tourism to remind everyone to “Thank a Rice Farmer.”

Part of the NRM celebration included National Rice Krispies Treat Day! All visitors received a sampling of the favorite rice treats along with a chance to watch the comedic Rice Farming TV episode, “How Rice Krispie Treats Are Made,” created by California rice grower Matthew Sligar.

“Matt’s video was a hit, and an easy, relatable way for us to share the importance of the local and national rice industries and the role that rice farmers play in providing the key ingredient to these fun-filled snacks,” said Nancy Loewer with the Acadia Parish Tourism Bureau.

Later in the day, the International Rice Festival held its annual Rice and Gravy Cooking Contest, where teams from the Crowley area prepared rice recipes for judging and samples for all attendees. Falcon Rice Mill and its Cajun Country Rice brand sponsored the event, and Supreme Rice Mill had a team that participated in the contest.

“Cooking events like this are a great way to promote rice,” said Robbie Trahan, an owner of Falcon Rice who also serves as chair of the USA Rice Domestic Promotion Committee. “There are a lot of titles you can earn as a cook, but in south Louisiana, being named the Best Rice and Gravy Cook is a true honor.”

Students in the Port of Lake Charles area geared up for a similar cooking competition on Wednesday sponsored by the Calcasieu-Cameron Rice Growers Association. The event was cancelled last year due to Hurricanes Laura and Delta.

“It felt good to get back to tradition with our Rice Cook-Off,” said Cal Cam Rice Growers President Adam Habetz. “With everything we have been through over the last year, getting back to something familiar goes a long way, and celebrating National Rice Month with the Port of Lake Charles reminds everyone that our industry is strong and here to stay.”

One of the contest judges was Mary Jemison, who retired from USA Rice a few years ago, but jumped at the chance to sample the variety of dishes prepared by the students. Farmers Rice Mill of Lake Charles provided rice cookers for each student who entered the contest.

Throughout the remainder of September, and leading up to the International Rice Festival in Crowley on October 15-18, many more events honoring rice farmers and the rice industry are planned so the celebration continues!

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.