Rice Stewardship Partnership Opens New Office in Jonesboro, Arkansas

JONESBORO, AR – The USA Rice and Ducks Unlimited (DU) Rice Stewardship Partnership (RSP) continues to grow.  Last year, the RSP celebrated its 10-year anniversary, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives introduced resolutions recognizing this feat, rice-targeted conservation programs surpassed 1000+ unique and individual rice farms covering more than 800,000 acres, 25 supply chain partners contributed more than $10 million in private funding to leverage the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) investments on rice farms, and these investments delivered more than $110 million in financial assistance to rice producers.

Now in 2024, Ducks Unlimited officially opened an Arkansas field office here last month.  More than 100 partners, producers, and community members attended the open house celebration to learn about conservation efforts in the Mid-South and in working ricelands.  
The Jonesboro office will serve as the hub for all rice-targeted programs and other DU work in the region, helping team members better serve conservation partners in this area.

“Over the last decade, the RSP has built a rice field team of 25+ professionals with great expertise and experience in on-farm conservation,” said Jeff Rutledge, a rice producer in Jackson County, Arkansas, and member of the RSP Advisory Committee.  “The partnership’s impact continues to expand, because of its history of bringing technical assistance along with rice-targeted program dollars, and the new field office in the heart of the largest rice growing region in the country shows this combination is successful.  We are thrilled to now have a home base for our staff and partners as well as a larger community presence.  There is much to celebrate, but definitely much more to accomplish.”

The RSP staff are working diligently on the next phase of the Climate-Smart Commodities grant, in most states contracting with applicants that are pre-approved, and excited about putting the money to work on ricelands very soon.