ARLINGTON, VA -- When USA Rice launched the
Whole Grain newspaper in 2014, the point was to put rice industry news physically in the hands of the thousands of rice people who may not attend USA Rice meetings or receive the USA Rice Daily. But if one thing has become apparent over the last 18 months, it’s that everything changes, and so has the
Whole Grain, at least temporarily, as the current issue is a digital version accessed via the USA Rice website.
“Depending on your location or how you like to digest the news, we know that digital is not always preferred,” said Michael Klein, USA Rice vice president of marketing, communications, and domestic promotion. “That was our original motivation for creating a printed paper that was delivered right to your doorstep. But belt tightening here, along with postal delivery disruptions that made the last
Whole Grain issue take upwards of six weeks to reach its final destinations, prompted us to change the format, at least for now.”
Click through this
issue to learn about breeding projects at the rice research station in Puerto Rico’s Lajas Valley, how USA Rice is leading reform efforts at the World Trade Organization, analysis of a recent advertising campaign that pushed U.S. rice into retail markets across the country, and more.
“You’ll see we’ve made the most of this issue’s online roll-out,” said Klein. “The paid ads are interactive to give our advertisers more exposure, and we also added links to stories so the article about a new whole grain survey shares the complete research report. And, after reading about a rice-tossing Tiktok phenomenon, you can click on a link that goes right to the uplifting video.”
The next
Whole Grain issue will be a fully-printed and mailed newspaper to coincide with the 2021 USA Rice Outlook Conference scheduled for December 5-7 in New Orleans.