Among the breakout sessions at the recent USA Rice Outlook Conference was a panel on the rising cost of crop inputs.

The panel, moderated by Arkansas rice farmer Mark Isbell, was made up of Dr. Joe Outlaw, Texas A&M University economist and co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center, economist Jason Troendle from The Fertilizer Institute, and Hunter Carpenter from the Agricultural Retailers Association.

The U.S. rice industry bolsters our longstanding commitment to conservation and sustainability each year by recognizing industry leaders to showcase their stewardship efforts in preserving wildlife habitat and efficient use of natural resources.

The USA Rice Distinguished Conservation Award was established more than a decade ago by California rice grower Al Montna during his chairmanship of USA Rice.

Members of the 2022/24 Rice Leadership Development Program class were announced Monday during the annual Rice Awards Luncheon at the 2021 USA Rice Outlook Conference. The class is comprised of seven rice industry professionals selected by a committee of agribusiness leaders.

The 2021 USA Rice Outlook Conference wrapped up in New Orleans Tuesday with an impressive slate of programming for the more than 575 attendees.

“We knew being together again after a year and a half, sharing ideas and experiences, would be rewarding,” said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward.

Every year at the Annual Rice Awards Luncheon Rice Farming bestows three awards: Rice Farmer of the Year, the Rice Industry Award, and the Rice Lifetime Achievement Award. These annual recognitions, co-sponsored by Horizon Ag and USA Rice, highlight some of the most positive achievements associated with the U.S. rice industry.

Members of the Louisiana 4-H Food and Fitness Board visited the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station Nov. 22 for their latest seminar to aid in their development of food and nutrition education and leadership skills.
The event included presentations by AgCenter rice geneticist Herry Utomo and biotechnologist Ida Wenefrida, who shared their work on a new high-protein, low-glycemic-index rice variety that is currently on the market.

A new front has been opened for the export of basmati rice as Latin America (LatAM) has opened doors to Indian basmati rice for the first time. The LatAm countries have sent import enquiries to Indian basmati exporters who said consignments will leave Indian ports in December.

This new market has come as a relief to Indian exporters as they have lost a major market, Iran, due to payment issues.

When you think about rice, you probably think about the fluffy, white grains that you eat for supper. However, while that’s certainly the tastiest part of the rice, it’s not the whole story, as Steve Linscombe, Executive Director of The Rice Foundation, explains.

Dr. Nick Bateman says billbugs are not a new pest in rice. Growers have seen them in levee rice for years and on the levees or in rice patties they can’t keep enough water on to keep them from drying out during the growing season.

What’s new is that many growers are trying furrow-irrigated or row rice where portions of the field may remain dry as water moves across the field or out the end of the field if a levee isn’t in place to retain the water.

U.S. Department of Agriculture/Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA/FAS) recently announced the 2022 Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) allocations with USA Rice receiving more than $5.5 million, including a 35 percent increase in MAP funding from last year.

The South Louisiana Rail Facility broke ground Thursday on a new $21 million rice mill, adding value to locally grown rice and opening up more markets for rice farmers in South Louisiana and Southeast Texas.

Local and state officials gathered to celebrate construction of the state-of-the-art rice milling facility which will be built on a three acre site adjacent to the South Louisiana Rail Facility (SLRF) at the Lacassine Industrial Park in Jeff Davis Parish.

The ratoon, or second, harvest of rice across south Louisiana is just about wrapped up. Growing conditions for the second crop were much better than the first crop, and yields are proving that. LSU AgCenter correspondent Craig Gautreaux has the story from Acadia Parish.

For the first time since it was enacted in 2012, US exporters did not fill the rice tariff-rate quota with Colombia.

Rice exports to Colombia declined to just $5 million through September, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The significantly lower exports are a result of a larger Colombian crop and lower domestic prices as well as increased competition from South American exporters.

In a world where crop prices are climbing, fanning inflation fears, one crucial food staple has slumped this year in Asia -- rice.

Unlike 2008 when wheat and rice surged to the highest on record, helping spark food riots in some countries, this year they are moving in opposite directions. Wheat futures in Chicago, a global benchmark, have climbed about 30% since the end of December to the strongest in almost a decade, while rice export prices from Thailand, a regional marker, have slumped 25% to a four-year low.