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Resilience has always been a word
to describe rice farmers. And
while faced with adversity in
southwest Louisiana, a group of
farmers there have shown their ability to
take initiatives and give themselves a new
market alternative.
After more than two years of fund raising
and planning, the South Louisiana Rail
Facility, LLC recently began construction
on a site near Lacassine, La., within the
town’s Agri-Industrial Park. The new facility
will be owned by the Jeff Davis Parish
Police Jury, who is leasing the operation to
the South Louisiana Rail Loading Facility.
Valley View Agri-Systems of Jonesboro,
Ark., was awarded the construction project.
Highly Efficient Facility
Louisiana Department of Agriculture
and Forestry (LDAF) Commissioner Mike
Strain says, “This facility will be an important
tool for loading Louisiana grain for
export to world markets. This is a huge
addition to the agricultural infrastructure
for our Louisiana farmers. This project is a
perfect example of a public-private partnership
for economic development.”
Area farmers raised a staggering
$800,000 in an effort to match funding
from local and state government funds.
The facility will be highly efficient thanks to an excellent location on Interstate
10 that contains truck scales onsite and two
one-mile rail spurs for 200 railcars from a
previous project. The facility has an elevator
capacity of 25,000 bushels-per-hour
with 160,000 bushels of onsite storage. A
25,000 bushels-per-hour Compuweigh rail
scale to provide USDA certified weights
and a Federal Grain Inspection Service
grade room are also onsite.
Dual, covered unloading pits allow
trucks four minutes to discharge. Within a
one-hour drive, 250,000 acres of mostly
long-grain rice are produced. A small managing
group will be hired to operate the
facility. Service providers include Union
Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe
railway companies.
New Access To Mexico
Without the facility, area rice farmers
are unable to access the growing market in
Mexico – No. 1 for U.S. rice exports. With
Mexico as the main focus, the US Rice
Producers Association carries out an extensive
promotional campaign through community
development and school programs
that addresses nutritional issues in the
country. The projects are held with support
from the Mexican Rice Council’s mill
membership as close to 90 percent of
imports are rough rice.
The USA Rice Federation also conducts
complementary promotion efforts in this
key market.
Congratulations to Louisiana rice farmers
in their effort to make this project a
reality. A special thank you goes Gov.
Bobby Jindal, LDAF Commissioner Mike
Strain, State Sen. Daniel Morrish and State
Rep. John Guinn for their leadership and
support. The project will open new doors
not only for rice but also for corn, soybeans,
wheat and other grains on a year
round basis.
For more, visit www.usriceproducers.com. |
