Apr 12, 2021
BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA -- Last week, staff from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) based here organized three days’ worth of webinars with trade associations, including USA Rice. Topics included trade policy objectives, nutrition-focused marketing initiatives, and climate change-related innovations. More than 60 participants logged in each day.
During discussions on climate change, Dr. Steve Linscombe, director of The Rice Foundation, and Lydia Holmes, USA Rice director of industry affairs and sustainability, gave an overview of the U.S. rice industry’s sustainability story over the last 30-plus years across America’s six major rice-producing states as well as future goals that encourage continued efforts on conservation of natural resources.
Linscombe and Holmes also participated in a lively Q&A session providing information on the rice industry's communication efforts in raising consumer awareness of U.S. rice sustainability practices.
“We know the Biden Administration has set a high bar to meet climate change goals and a big part of what we need to do is share the information of what our industry has already done over the past three decades,” said Sarah Moran USA Rice vice president international. “FAS and our colleagues at other trade associations appreciated hearing about rice’s sustainability metrics and how we plan to continue making advances in this field. Not only is sustainability important for the environment, but it’s becoming more and more important to our customers both domestically and abroad.”