Hard-hitting discussion topics
Sep 27, 2021
ARLINGTON, VA – The Rice Leadership Development program is a flagship in the rice industry, but it is not the only program dedicated to developing future leaders in agriculture. USA Rice has played host to groups of young leaders from Oklahoma on more than one occasion, the Riceland Leadership program, and last week the USA Rice headquarters were visited by an energetic and capable group from Kansas who were making the rounds in Washington, DC.
USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward greeted the fully-vaccinated group and shared a history of rice cultivation, the basics of the growing cycle, and then dove into top issues and challenges facing the industry, and explained how USA Rice advocates for the industry and shared some of the successful promotion programming USA Rice undertakes domestically and abroad.
USA Rice Director of Government Affairs Jamison Cruce also joined the meeting to discuss farm policy and navigating a divided Washington.
“The group had a lot of great questions and observations, and it was interesting to hear what folks with little experience in rice, but plenty in ag and ranching, thought about key issues,” Cruce said.
“Like our own program, the Kansas Farm Bureau leadership program is top notch and exclusive,” Ward said. “It was wonderful to get to visit with these young leaders. Their colleagues in Kansas should know they’ve got some very capable men and women soaking up as much information as they can that will serve the state well.”