Rice State Legislators Address Financial Restrictions Inhibiting Rice Sales To Iraq
Tuesday, a coalition of rice state legislators including four Senators and eight House members, led by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), sent a letter to the Department of the Treasury requesting a quick resolution to financing restrictions which have prevented the Government of Iraq from procuring essentials including U.S. rice.
Iraq is the second largest market for U.S. milled long grain rice. The government of Iraq provides rations, including that rice, to 41 million Iraqis with 6 million receiving additional rations because they live below the poverty line; the total population in Iraq is approximately 45 million people.
Read More
Southwest Louisiana Rice Country Hosts Nigerian Delegation
Last week, several families and rice industry representatives hosted the Nigerian Catholic Bishop Ernest Obodo and Father Francis Chiawa to south Louisiana rice country. The trip was organized by the Lounsberry Family, including Mrs. Yvonne Lounsberry and Michelle Deshotel, Gayla and Mark Popeck, and their son Conner Popeck. The trip was an initial visit to further explore the idea for the SWLA rice farming family to create a Farmer-to-Farmer Training Program to train Nigerians in the various trades associated with U.S. agriculture practices, with the goal of participants then being able to take these new skills and knowledge back to Nigeria and train others at Mary Agro Farms.
Read More
Rice Leadership Development Program Session One Goes To The Gulf Coast
My first session of the Rice Leadership Program started with the same recipe of every alumnus I spoke to: a little anxiousness and a lot of uncertainty on how I thought I could get away from my home duties for an entire week. The fear of disappointing those who supported me to be accepted into the program and the fear of the phone call of Dr. Linscombe’s wrath encouraged me to head to Crowley in the pouring rain to meet up with my Louisianan brethren, Kane Webb, Cole Reiners, and John McLain, for the drive to Texas to teach everyone something about rice measured in barrels.
Read More
This New-to-Louisiana Bird Wails Like a Banshee but Eats Pesky Nuisance, Saving Crops
It's not a colorful or elegant bird, nor does it sing anything that could be described as pleasant. Its feathers are drab. Its beak droopy, and its long-legged gait is so gimpy that it was cursed with one of the most disparaging names in all of birddom: the limpkin.
And yet the limpkin’s first appearance in Louisiana a few years ago was cause for celebration. That’s because this gangly, shrieking bird from Florida is the mortal enemy of a foreign snail that’s been wreaking havoc in Louisiana’s farms and wetlands.
Read More
Battling Weedy Rice With ACCase Cropping Systems
Herbicide-resistant weedy rice significantly impacts yield potential, and the pressure intensifies in problem fields placed in continuous rice rotations. With limited technology to combat weedy rice, many farmers turn to Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) chemistries, like the Max-Ace Cropping Solution or Provisia Rice System, as their only options.
Read More
Rice Station Internship Awarded To Vermilion Parish Native
Emma Stelly, a McNeese State University freshman who grew up on a family farm in Vermilion Parish, has been selected to complete an internship at the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station this summer.
Read More
Rice Industry Wages Long Battle to Protect Grain's Identity
The rice industry has been trying for years to prevent products made from riced or crumbled vegetables from being labeled as rice and even from being displayed in the same supermarket aisle as rice products. The industry has scored a few wins.
“We’ve said from the beginning, rice is a grain, not a shape,” says Robbie Trahan, Louisiana rice miller who chairs USA Rice’s Domestic Promotion Committee. If someone wants to eat cauliflower crumbles, that’s fine. But don’t call it rice. It isn’t.”
Read More
USDA Summary Of 2024 Planting Intentions
According to Dow Jones' survey of market analysts, USDA is expected to announce 92.0 million acres of corn plantings in 2024, down from 94.6 million acres in 2023. For soybeans, 86.3 million acres are expected to be planted in 2024, up from 83.6 million acres in 2023.
Read More
Louisiana Rice & Grain Stocks: March 2024
Louisiana rough rice stocks in all positions on March 1, 2024, totaled 8.55 million hundredweight (cwt), up 13 percent from March 1, 2023. Stocks held on farms totaled 1.55 million cwt, up 7 percent from last year. Off farm stocks totaled 7.00 million cwt, up 14 percent from last year.
Read More
Opportunities For Midsouth Rice Exports May Arise For The 2024 Crop
In 2022 and 2023, the world was consuming more rice which showed up in the long grain rice Marketing Year Average Prices (MYAP) of $16.70/cwt and $15.7/cwt, respectively (USDA-NASS, 2024).
In 2022 and 2023, the world was consuming more rice which showed up in the long grain rice Marketing Year Average Prices (MYAP) of $16.70/cwt and $15.7/cwt, respectively (USDA-NASS, 2024).
Read More
Gulf Coast Rice Planting 2024
The gulf coast region was busy getting the 2024 U.S. rice crop off to a quick and early start, but is now taking a break with the recent untimely rains over the past two weeks, also ushering in the inevitable cool spell, but not too cool to appear a threat to the young emerging rice. Planting got off to an early start in both the Texas and SWLA regions, with ideal weather conditions prompting growers to take advantage and get a portion of their crop planted ahead of the rains as we near the end of March, although a few were able to get all of their crop in the ground.
Read More
LA Red Beans & Rice Heritage & Music Festival Debuts In Baton Rouge
The Louisiana Red Beans and Rice Heritage and Musical Festival has partnered with local farmers and businesses to teach the heritage of one of the oldest and most tasteful cuisines in Louisiana.
Read More
U.S.-Grown Rice Boosted By Anheuser-Busch’s U.S. Farmed Certification
U.S. rice farmers can give a hearty “cheers!” to Anheuser-Busch and the American Farmland Trust (AFT) for their new partnership that will be putting a “U.S. Farmed” certification and seal on several products from the nation’s top brewer and largest user of U.S.-grown rice.
Read More
Louisiana Farm Bureau, LFETA Seeking Locations of Grain Bin Rescue Tubes
The Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation is working with the Louisiana Fire and Emergency Training Academy in compiling the locations of grain bin rescue tubes across the state.
Grain bin rescue tubes are specialized pieces of equipment used by first responders to help safely remove someone trapped by flowing grain inside a grain bin or other grain storage facility.
Read More
Crop Market Update for Corn, Soybean, Rice, and Cotton: March 2024
The WASDE’s March outlook for 2023/24 U.S. corn remains relative to last month. The season-average corn price for producers has been lowered to $4.75 per bushel based on observed prices to date.
The outlook for U.S. soybean supply and use for 2023/24 also remains unchanged for March. While soybean crush is unchanged, the soybean meal extraction rate has been bumped up slightly, and soybean meal exports are mostly higher due to lower domestic use. The U.S. season-average soybean price forecast stays unchanged at $12.65 per bushel.
Read More
