“It’s like no other career. I take pride in being a rice farmer.”

Zack Tanner:

2025 Rice Farmer of the Year

When Zack Tanner learned he had been named the 2025 Rice Farmer of the Year, sponsored by Horizon Ag and USA Rice, his reaction was one of disbelief, sweet memories and family pride.

“I didn’t anticipate it, so I was very surprised and honored when they told me,” said Tanner, who farms near Bernie, Missouri. “First of all, I’m just humbled and grateful to be given this award. I think of all the people that deserve it as much or more than I do, and I am grateful to be recognized in this way.”

For Tanner, the award also carries a deeply personal meaning. His father, Fred Tanner, who passed away in 1998, was honored as Missouri Rice Farmer of the Year in 1997. “It really means something to me to win this award this year. It’s affirming to know I have been recognized just like he was for his work all those years ago.

I know he’d be proud.”

A Rice Family

Farming, and particularly rice farming, has always been at the center of Tanner’s life. He grew up working alongside his father and uncle on the family operation, starting with small acreage in high school and expanding his responsibilities after college. Today, he represents the third generation on the farm, with his  two sons — Zachary, 27, and Luke, 22, — making up the fourth. His daughter, Kayli, 26, is a speech language pathologist and his son-in-law, Kason, is a preacher. They recently made him a grandfather.

Tanner and his wife, Beckie, have built a family life as rooted in farming as it is in faith and community. “Our family is very blessed,” Tanner said. “All the kids are married, and we couldn’t have any better kids-in-law. My daughters-in-law, Bailee and Caris, get out and ride the equipment with our sons. The farm is in good hands going forward.”

Family support, he added, has been essential to his success. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without my wife. She was an accountant, and after a career in public and private accounting, she chose to stay at home, raise our three kids and do the farm accounting from our home office. Without that support, it’s hard, and that support is reflected in the success of our farm and our children today. The most important crop we’ve raised has been our children.”

Mentorship and Tradition

While his father and uncle instilled in him the fundamentals of rice farming, Tanner also drew inspiration from industry leaders such as John “Jacko” Garrett Jr., a pioneering seed rice producer in Texas who passed away in 2023.

“I went down there a few times and Jacko showed me his operation and shared his knowledge with me,” Tanner explained. “I studied and paid attention to people who were successful and then tried to emulate them. I wanted to challenge myself to improve upon what they were doing up here.”

That pursuit of improvement has guided his career. When Tanner graduated from college and joined the family operation full time in 1994, his father and uncle set him a challenge: produce 150 bushels of rice an acre and earn a bonus. He exceeded that goal, and did every time that goal was raised, year after year.

“The rice seed production was my area of expertise,” he said. “My goal then was to raise the best rice seed, and that is still my goal today.”

Seed Rice — Going the Extra Mile

Today, the Tanners farm roughly 7,200 acres divided among seed rice, popcorn, soybeans and a small amount of field corn. Of those crops, seed rice demands the greatest focus, expense and attention to detail.

“Growing seed rice is different from farming a conventional rice crop. It takes some special care,” Tanner said. “Our goal is to have 100% purity and very high germination, in the upper 90s (%). To achieve that, the stars need to align, and you need to constantly focus on practices that may seem inefficient or costly but make a difference in purity and quality.”

Achieving purity requires strict crop rotation, meticulous cleaning of equipment between varieties, reduced seeding rates and vigilant weed management. Reducing seeding rates is a necessity, and the results have proven to increase yield and quality over decades, he added.

“When we get seed directly from a breeder, particularly a new variety, there’s only a given amount of that variety that exists in the world, and we own it. It’s in our hands,” Tanner said. “We try to make that go across more acreage so that we can make the variety produce, maybe not more bushels per acre, but more bushels total. We’ve also learned that the fewer seeds we plant per acre, the fewer off-types there are per acre.”

Tanner and his team rely on layered herbicide applications and multiple field passes by rouging crews to eliminate off-types and ensure uniformity.

“If you were looking at our rice farm, you would say our efficiency is somewhat low because we’re doing so many things a typical commercial rice farm wouldn’t need to do,” Tanner admitted. “But we’re committed to producing the best possible seed, and that takes extra work.”

Even at harvest, the effort continues. “Think about trying to get every kernel of rice seed out of three combines, two grain carts, nine trailer trucks, two conveyors and many grain bins between each variety,” Tanner said. “There is a tremendous amount of time and work involved, but I guess that’s the cost of trying to be the best I can.”

Commitment to Community and Industry

Beyond the farm, Tanner has been active in his community serving on the Public Water District Board, the Missouri Rice Farm Committee as Chairman and, previously, the local school board. But his proudest contributions are the rice seeds he has produced.

“Knowing that I literally have grown thousands of clean seed lots, millions of clean seed bushels, which have grown millions of acres of rice that have fed millions of people — it’s a blessing,” he said.

For Tanner, rice farming is not just an occupation but a family bond and a legacy. “For us, rice farming is very much a family affair. The connection with our past and our family today, it’s like no other career. I take pride in being a rice farmer.”

As he accepts the Rice Farmer of the Year Award, Tanner sees the honor not as a capstone, but as motivation to keep striving. “I’m super glad to stay busy farming. It’s a blessing. My drive is to provide my children the same opportunities I had growing up.”