USA Rice is Sustainable Agriculture

Protect * Preserve * Produce

USA Rice continually works with different industry sectors to reduce the carbon footprint for rice and detail the contribution rice farms make to wildlife habitat and biodiversity.

A study commissioned by The Rice Foundation and released in December 2010 by the USA Rice Federation shows that U.S. rice production has become increasingly efficient on a national level over a 20-year period.

U.S. Rice Resource Efficiency and Sustainability Metrics, is the first-of-its-kind rice sustainability study.  IHS Global Insight conducted the analysis. Among the study’s major findings:

• 21 percent decrease in land required to produce each 100 pounds of rice and an 821,000 acre reduction in land used for production in 2009 compared to 20 years ago.
• 43 percent decrease in soil loss since 1987.
• 33 percent reduction in water used to produce each 100 pounds of rice, saving nearly 24 million gallons of water in 2009 versus two decades ago.
• 52 percent reduction in energy used to produce 100 pounds of rice over a 20-year period.
• 29 percent reduction in soil methane per 100 pounds of rice over a 20-year period.

"The study is an important first look at the sustainability of U.S. rice production and provides a benchmark for the industry," USA Rice Federation Sustainability Task Force Chairman Jennifer James said. James, a rice grower from Arkansas, believes the ongoing challenge for the rice industry will be to continue to produce more rice that is both sustainable and profitable for rice farmers in order to feed a growing global population.

Noting the positive contribution that rice makes to wildlife and biodiversity, the study encourages future research in this and other areas such as water management and how farm management practices influence soil emissions. The report concludes that the U.S. rice industry is moving toward meeting increasing demand while achieving a reduced environmental impact per hundred pounds of rice produced.

USA Rice Sustainability Brochure

University Sustainability Research Paper

2010 U.S. Rice Resource Efficiency and Sustainability Metrics One-page Summary and News Release

Rice Fields as Wildlife Habitat

The Louisiana State University (LSU) AgCenter contributed this photograph of a juvenile alligator in a rice field. Rice fields provide a nursery, resting or feeding ground for animals such as alligators, fish, frogs nearly every kind of waterfowl, that take advantage of the wetland habitat created by rice farmers.

Wading Birds in a Louisiana Rice Field

LSU AgCenter also provided these photographs of wading birds in rice fields. Rice is an important crop for wading birds and water birds, which use flooded rice fields primarily for foraging, but some, including rare species, use rice fields for nesting. At left, a flock of dowitchers in a flooded rice field. At right, a dowitcher and sandpipers in a Louisiana rice field.

A New Farming Issue: Sustainability

USA Rice Holds Stakeholder Alignment Meeting on Rice Sustainability

Walmart Unveils Global Sustainable Agriculture Goals

Incentives Offered for Farmers To Become Master Rice Growers

50,000 Young Salmon Released into Yolo Bypass Rice Fields

Resources

• USA Rice Federation's conservation page.
• Other Web sites for more information on conservation and sustainability in the U.S. rice industry:

University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture

California Rice Commission

Louisiana Master Farmer Program