Aug 05, 2021
COLUSA, CA – Yesterday, the California Rice Commission’s (CRC)Board of Directors held their first fully in-person meeting of 2021 to kick off the new fiscal year and discuss annual business and industry updates, including a report from USA Rice.
“We were happy to get our board together this week to talk through what’s going on outside of our operations and what’s happening in the California regulatory space,” said Sean Doherty, a California rice farmer and chair of the CRC. “We had very good turnout and hope that the upcoming field day in Biggs later this month is even better attended.”
Peter Bachmann, USA Rice vice president for international trade, was at the meeting and gave a presentation focused primarily on international trade and the impact of the recent lapse of Trade Promotion Authority. He also talked about the slow start to trade negotiations this year, and increased scrutiny on maximum residue levels in overseas markets.
“Despite the drought and acreage drop being front and center for all of us, there are other topics affecting California rice,” said Doherty. “We discussed the logistical and shipping issues our exporters are going through and some of the legislation in the pipeline that CRC and USA Rice may have an interest in.”