USA Rice Daily
Up-to-the-Minute News on Issues and Activities
Friday, November 13, 2015
Missouri Hosts First Rice Conservation Field Day  
 
Packed in 
PORTAGEVILLE, MO -- Yesterday morning, more than 50 rice farmers and conservation professionals gathered at the Delta Fisher Research Center in Portageville, Missouri, for the first ever Southeast Missouri Rice Conservation Field Day. 
 
The Field Day was organized by USA Rice and Ducks Unlimited to provide outreach to rice farmers in the Missouri Bootheel for their National Rice Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) project, Sustaining the Future of Rice.  The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Missouri in conjunction with the University of Missouri's Fisher Delta Research Center handled most of the local outreach and planning for the event.
 
Participants had an opportunity to hear presentations on behalf of the Missouri NRCS State Conservationist's office, NRCS headquarters in Washington, Ducks Unlimited, and a legislative update from USA Rice Vice President of Government Affairs Ben Mosely.
 
Mosely told the crowd, "It is great to get so many people together with positive common goals and share our respective visions for the RCPP and the USA Rice-Ducks Unlimited Stewardship Partnership.  USA Rice looks forward to continuing to build relationships in the Bootheel and deliver additional funding to the Missouri rice industry."
 
Blake Gerard, Missouri rice farmer and chairman of the USA Rice Farmers also attended the event, and said, "I was thrilled to see how receptive my friends and neighbors were towards this Field Day, and it was imperative that conservation staff were in the room and able to answer specific, technical questions for folks."
 
Gerard concluded, "Our region needs to be implementing as many conservation practices as possible as preventative measures in today's environmentally sensitive society.  This project is bringing the incentive right to our front door to make sure we continue to responsibly care for our land."
 
Applications for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program portion of the National Rice RCPP project are due to Missouri and Louisiana NRCS offices by November 20.
 
Contact:  Peter Bachmann (703) 236-1475
USA Rice Leadership Class Alumni Visit Thailand 
 
Robb Dedman, Park Eldridge, and
 Chad Duckworth get up close
with Thai Jasmine rice. 
BANGKOK, THAILAND -- In early November, the 2015 International Rice Leadership Class toured Thailand to get an overview of the Thai rice market.  The group met with a diverse group of industry representatives including Thai exporters/traders, farmers, millers, rice research stations, and U.S. government officials working in Thailand.
 
Members of this year's International Rice Leadership Class are alumni from previous Rice Leadership Development classes and include: Rance Daniels, Hornersville, MO; Robb Dedman, Rison, AR; Chad Duckworth, Jonesboro, AR; Park Eldridge, Gillette, AR; and Timothy Gertson, Lissie, TX.

In Bangkok, the country's capital city, the class met first with U.S. Agricultural Counselor Bobby Richey, who gave an overview of the Thai rice industry, before visiting the Thailand Rice Department (School of Rice) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
 
Next stop was the Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture (UPA) project where people who live in apartments are being taught how to grow food items on their rooftops.  Rice merchant Park Eldridge commented on the idea, "I can see how this could be done in our large cities and how it would help reduce food costs for city dwellers."
 
The highlight at the Prachinburi Rice Research Center was the In-Situ Conservation site for wild rice and deep water rice ecosystem.  "It was amazing to see wild rice growing in water as deep as seven feet, and they don't fertilize it or anything," said Texas producer Timothy Gertson.
 
After visiting a rice seed production facility, the class boarded a plane and flew to northeast Thailand to see first-hand the harvest of Thai Jasmine.  "Everyone in the rice industry knows about Thai Jasmine and to see it being harvested and hearing how it is grown in a rain-fed ecosystem was very interesting," said rice consultant Robb Dedman.
 
MO producer Rance Daniels examines
floating rice varieties. 
"It was fascinating to see the way the Thai processors purchased rice from the farmers and then dumped it on a concrete slab to be sun dried before being milled," said Missouri producer Rance Daniels.
 
Chad Duckworth, with Armor Seed, summed up the week-long trip, saying, "Having an opportunity to sit down with a group of Thai rice farmers and visit with them about how they grow rice and then talk about how we grow it, was amazing.  I understand now how beneficial this program is and how exposure to every aspect of rice production, both in the U.S. and abroad, can help all of us here give thoughtful, educated input when it comes to making decisions about how we do things at home."
 
The Rice Leadership Development Program is sponsored by John Deere Company, American Commodity Company, and RiceTec, Inc. through a grant to The Rice Foundation and is managed by the USA Rice Federation.
 
Contact:  Chuck Wilson (870) 673-7541
CME Group/Closing Rough Rice Futures   
CME Group (Prelim):  Closing Rough Rice Futures for November 13

Month
Price
Net Change
November 2015$11.960
- $0.150
January 2016
$12.145
- $0.215
March 2016
$12.405
- $0.220
May 2016$12.690
- $0.220
July 2016$12.950
- $0.215
September 2016$12.515
- $0.215
November 2016
$12.515
- $0.215
January 2017
$12.515
UNCH
In the News
Around the Country
Based on the whims of 2015, rice acreage might appear headed down in 2016, but numbers may remain steady after commodity realization. A lot of rice is still held on-farm as producers wait for price improvements.
 
Growing up in the rural town of Protection, Kansas, Stan Herd dreamed of leaving his family's farm that was homesteaded by his grandfather to lead the life of an artist. But his agrarian roots ended up emerging in his art in the most spectacular of ways.
 
 
Tariffs and Trade
Hare-grained Economist
Governments' energetic manipulation of the rice market is counterproductive. All subsidies breed inefficiency and raise costs, whether for consumers, producers or taxpayers. But the ones affecting rice are especially pernicious, in that they drive up prices for those least able to afford it: the poorest citizens of relatively poor countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.
 
Earlier this year, the Republicans came together with enough moderate Democrats to give Obama fast-track authority to negotiate the deal, with a 218-208 vote in the House and a 60-38 vote in the Senate. That sets up votes on the TPP-without the right to filibuster or add amendments-for some time next year.
 
Trade Pact Push Draws State Views Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Others say it's too early to determine whether the administration cut a good deal. "We're still reviewing what it means to the rice industry," said Dow Brantley, president of the USA Rice Federation.
 
 
Science and Technology
Carrageenan, a carbohydrate found in edible seaweeds, was found to increase rice yield by 63.6% to 65.4%, according to scientists from the National Crop Protection Center (NCPC) at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, the country's premiere agricultural school. A field trial conducted in Bulacan showed that adding small portions of carrageenan to fertilizer led to higher grain weight, thereby increasing rice yields.
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