RUSTON, KINDER, and CROWLEY, LA – House Speaker Mike Johnson and his staff visited rice country this week to spend time with members of Louisiana's agriculture industry, including several rice growers and rice industry representatives, and the Speaker’s staff was fortunate to catch rice harvest in action.
In Ruston, LA, the Speaker participated in a panel discussion with American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall and Louisiana Farm Bureau (LAFB) President Richard Fontenot, rice grower from Ville Platte, LA, to celebrate the agriculture victories included in H.R. 1, “The One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” and to talk about the issues ahead in getting a “skinny” Farm Bill done to continue helping the American farmer and rural communities in Louisiana and across the nation.
Fontenot thanked the Speaker for his work and commitment to the U.S. rice industry, noting that all of the priorities identified by USA Rice made their way into the final bill.
The Speaker shared a story about how rice was something on the forefront of President Trump's mind, particularly when negotiating the trade framework recently with Japan.
Earlier in the week, USA Rice and LAFB hosted several members of the Speaker’s staff, from both his district office and his leadership office in Washington, DC, to experience rice on its journey from the field to the mill.
Kinder rice farmer Eric Unkel welcomed the group to his operation to see rice harvest taking place. Unkel talked about the production practices used, and the reality of the cost of inputs needed to produce rice in southwest Louisiana.
As if on cue, one of Unkel’s combines went down, which served as a potent reminder of the everyday struggles faced in the field, and that lost time and productivity are real cost factors that hit a grower's bottom line.
The group also visited Supreme Rice Mill in Crowley, where CEO Bobby Hanks and Vice President John Morgan shared the issues of trade and bad actors in the global market that need to be addressed to support the U.S. rice farmer and the industry as a whole before sending the group on a Rice Milling 101 crash course in what is takes to get rice from the farm to the table for consumers here and around the world.
“We’re very appreciative to the Speaker and his staff for taking time to visit the rice industry and hear firsthand how what they are doing in Washington affects communities here,” said Jake Westlin, vice president of government affairs for USA Rice, who participated in the events. “We also can’t thank our members enough for opening their operations during harvest time and telling their story and the story of the U.S. rice industry to these very important policymakers.”