NEW ORLEANS, LA – More than 300 rice researchers from around the world gathered here this week for the 40th biennial Rice Technical Working Group (RTWG) meeting to discuss everything from agronomy, breeding, and cytogenics to utilization, weed control, and yield.
Over four days, attendees had their work cut out for them navigating daily schedules, with the event offering more than 151 oral presentations in six discipline panels, multiple committee meetings, three symposia, education sessions, a general session, an industry lunch, an awards lunch, and poster sessions highlighting 102 fledgling research projects.
Following a quick RTWG business meeting, Chair Jarrod Hardke from the University of Arkansas, and Secretary Adam Famoso from the Louisiana State University AgCenter, welcomed attendees, thanked the organizers and volunteers who made the massive event hum, including USA Rice’s Jeanette Davis, and kicked off the General Session. After brief remarks from Michael Salassi, director of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, Dr. Robert Zeigler, former director of the International Rice Research Institute and current Global Rice Research Foundation director spoke at length about the importance of rice to the world and subsequently rice research.
“In Asia there’s a saying, ‘rice is life,’” Zeigler said. “Rice feeds 50 percent of people around the world and 75 percent of the world’s poor. The fate of the world depends on rice.”
Louisiana rice farmer and former chair of the Louisiana Rice Research Board Jackie Loewer shared an often humorous take on how farming has changed in the decades he’s been raising rice in southwest Louisiana, but he got serious when discussing the value of research.
“We farmers fund some of your research, but we are end users of all of it,” he said. “We couldn’t do what we do if you didn’t do what you do.”
At the industry lunch later, keynote speaker Bobby Hanks, CEO of Supreme Rice Mill, updated attendees on how his company is working to support local rice farmers with programs like Climate Smart Commodity grants and harvest support. He expressed appreciation for the hard work of the rice research community but added the U.S. government has a role to play as well.
“Twenty years ago, long grain imports were less than nine percent of U.S. consumption. Next year, it could be more than 31 percent,” he said. “We need aromatic varieties that work for farmers and a government trade policy that protects U.S. farmers from the undisputed cheating of countries like India.”
Breakout sessions dove deep into everything from breeding breakthroughs to microwave drying technologies, and crop protectants and nutrients to how planting decisions impact profitability.
In pursuit of nurturing younger researchers, one of the symposia featured more than a dozen veteran scientists talking about how they’ve navigated personal and professional challenges throughout their careers. It was particularly relevant in the current atmosphere of uncertainty around federal grant spending, including on research.
RTWG maintains an excellent website where past papers are indexed and proceedings of this event will be housed soon. Additionally, the
USA Rice Daily,
The Rice Stuff podcast, and the
Whole Grain newspaper have reached out to many presenters to ask them to share more information with subscribers.
The 41st RTWG will take place in February 2027 in Galveston, Texas.