Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Happy New Year!

Cassidy Nemec,
Editor

Hello, 2025! I feel like each year brings a combination of the expected and unexpected — the rice industry certainly had both. Acres were up as expected, but outside factors influenced the rice itself. Whether hurricanes or market fluctuations, there was no shortage of occurrences out of our control.

Speaking of the market, go read this month’s USA Rice column to get a thorough examination and update on the current state of trade for rice in the world market. We shall see what the change in administration brings to the table.

Right off the bat, pages 7-9 provide some timely updates for the industry. From a new rice disease in Texas, to a collaborative study on the increasingly threatening issue of false smut, to the benefits of developing and maintaining soil health, there is some important and useful information here.

Pages 10-11 recap the 2024 Rice Outlook Conference, which was held in Little Rock, Arkansas. We, along with Horizon Ag and USA Rice, were honored to recognize this year’s Rice Awards to some very deserving honorees — go back and see the special tribute section in the December issue of Rice Farming to learn more about each winner. See page 11 to see the newly announced Rice Leadership Development Class!

This month’s cover story features AgriCapture, a Nashville, Tennessee-based carbon credit company with a large emphasis in the rice sector. Read the Q&A on pages 12-14 to learn more about this growing organization.

As Harrison Pittman, the director of the National Agricultural Law Center, said, “2024 brought in some of the most consequential developments in ag law and policy in a long time.” Read more about this past year’s developments on pages 16-17.

One of the things I like most about variety selection is the intentionality behind it and how, while we can’t control the weather or world markets, we can make a conscious decision on what to plant and know the reasoning behind it. Lucky for us, this month’s issue is packed full of information and recommendations for just that from pages 18-22 between Dr. Ronnie Levy’s article on rice quality and the rest of the Extension specialist’s comments on selecting the right 2025 rice varieties for your operation.

Finally, this month’s My Turn features Mr. Dan Bradshaw, a rice consultant from Texas. Read about his journey from the Plains of Lubbock to the Texas rice country on page 22.

With everything going on in the world, I’m remaining hopeful for a productive and prosperous 2025. May it be a year of only the best kind of expected and unexpected!

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