Time’s Up

By Peter Bachmann

The recent announcement from Riceland Foods that they were temporarily shuttering nine of 23 rice dryers was shocking. The fact that Producers’ Rice Mill has indicated they may pause operations at two of their dryers as well is confirmation that this is not a headline to skim past. Nor is it a sign of poor leadership – in fact, it’s the exact opposite. These are sound management decisions in a brutal year – and that should be a wake-up call for policymakers and legislators.

When the math of growing rice in Arkansas “isn’t mathing” the state, industry, and country have a much bigger problem.

Dryers aren’t built on a whim and they aren’t closed on one either. When the people running these operations look at the numbers and conclude that idling capacity is the responsible move, they’re telling us, in the clearest language a balance sheet can speak, that there isn’t enough rice in the ground to justify keeping the lights on.

Call it “The Canary in the Coal Mine,” a “Five-Alarm Fire,” or going to “DEFCON 1,” just don’t ignore it.

We are on the verge of losing rural infrastructure that I think we all assumed would be around forever. It signals a contraction that, once started, will not politely reverse itself next season.

Idle equipment falls into disrepair. Skilled crews who run these facilities find other work and don’t come back. Storage and drying capacity that takes decades to build can be lost in a matter of months, and once it’s gone, the rice that does get planted has nowhere efficient to go.

And that makes next year’s math that much more unfriendly. And that could drag acreage down again. And the spiral picks up speed.

That’s the real danger here. It’s what happens when fertilizer, fuel, and every other input cost climb faster than the price farmers can get for their crop. Every acre that doesn’t get planted because the math doesn’t work is an acre of risk to the mill, the dryer, the co-op, and the town built around all three. Rural communities don’t hollow out all at once, they hollow out one idled facility, one skipped planting season, one lost market at a time.

The rice industry cannot wait for more bad news. We need to make even more noise, bang our pots and pans and scream and shout.

I’ve seen enough hearings, press conferences, studies, and statements of “deep concern.” The time when they meant something has come and gone.

Input costs are unsustainable, our markets are being stolen by countries that thumb their noses at the rules, and the infrastructure holding rural communities together is on the line.

Riceland and Producers read the warning correctly and took action. There are no greater warning signs. Time’s up.