ARLINGTON, VA – USA Rice’s media empire expanded today with the official launch of the organization’s podcast,
The Rice Stuff. The first episode, “The Voice of the Farmer Garden in Washington, DC,” is about the Farm Journal Foundation’s project on the National Mall. The twice monthly podcast is hosted by USA Rice’s Michael Klein and Lesley Dixon, and will offer a deep dive into rice topics from promotion efforts here and around the world to the latest in agronomy, and everything in between.
“Podcast listenership has been steadily increasing for years with 155 million Americans reporting that they listen to podcasts and 68 million Americans listening weekly,” said Klein, USA Rice vice president of communications and domestic promotion. “It’s a great way to reach people on their own schedule with topics they are interested in, and with harvest around the corner, we think there’s going to be a lot of combine listening.”
Klein said he and his team have spent a year researching the market, technology, and best practices, talking to other podcasters in and out of ag, including Jim Morris, host of the California Rice podcast,
Ingrained; Kurt Richter, host of
Rice Radio; Dr. Bobby Golden, host of
Mississippi Crop Situation, and Jeff Lenard, host of
Convenience Matters, a wildly popular podcast for the fuel and convenience store industry.
“On the advice of a lot of people, we’re keeping our episodes focused and short – under 30 minutes is our goal,” said Dixon, USA Rice staff writer. “The time goes by quickly, but we try to pack as much useful information in as possible.”
About half the episodes will look at rice farming and specifically sustainability practices. USA Rice’s in-house sustainability experts Dr. Steve Linscombe and Lydia Holmes will helm those episodes.
“We’re having a great time planning and recording episodes and we really hope people enjoy listening,” Klein said. “We’ve already got episodes on the
U.S. Rice Industry Sustainability Report, international rice promotion in the western hemisphere, and the role U.S. rice plays in food aid, with plenty more to come. We encourage everyone in the industry to subscribe today.”
Each episode features a cameo intro from a USA Rice member and provides an opportunity for listeners to reach out to Klein and Dixon via email (
podcast@usarice.com) or Twitter using #RiceStuff.
The Rice Stuff publishes new episodes on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month and can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts or at
www.thericestuffpodcast.com.