U.S. Rice Breeders Showcase New Varieties at Quality Symposium

INDIAN WELLS, CA – Becoming a mainstay of the USA Rice Outlook conference, the fourth U.S. Rice Quality Symposium was held here last week.  USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Administrator Daniel Whitley welcomed the group and spoke about the close ties between the U.S. and Central American countries.
 
The session featured six breeders from the public universities and the private sector showcasing 26 U.S. rice varieties currently either in development or in production.  Nearly 100 USA Rice members and more than 40 international attendees, including some from Central America and Ecuador, attended the event to learn about new varieties in the pipeline, and analyze rice in both its cooked and raw form.  Additionally, fact sheets were distributed with length, chalk, and amylose data all evaluated by one mill in an effort to be consistent.  
 
“The idea for the symposium came from numerous discussions we’ve had with FECARROZ (the Central American Rice Federation) over the past ten years regarding the quality of U.S. rice,” said Asiha Grigsby, USA Rice director of international promotion for the Western Hemisphere.  “We knew that our breeders had responded to the feedback by developing high quality varieties and we wanted to showcase these efforts to importers from our top export markets.”

Following the symposium, USA Rice members had an informative meeting with FECARROZ to discuss areas of collaboration and to hear feedback on the varieties they saw at the Quality Symposium.  “There were a few promising varieties that we’ll be sure to follow up on,” said Grigsby.  
 
Separate to this event, USA Rice also organized two dozen business-to-business (B2B) meetings with U.S. rice exporters and importers from Saudi Arabia and Jordan who attended the USA Rice Outlook Conference.