USA Rice Outlook Conference Origin Story

 
2025 USA Rice Outlook Logo with dates, December 7-9
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Aug 19, 2025
ARLINGTON, VA – Today the USA Rice Outlook Conference, coming to New Orleans in December 2025, is widely acknowledged as the preeminent rice event in North America, but where did it come from?

In the late 20th Century, the Cooperative Extension Services in the primary rice growing states assembled annually to update each other about rice research being conducted and their outlook for the coming crop year.

In 1989, the five-year-old Rice Foundation requested time on the agenda to present industry service awards.  It went well, and from that point forward, the Extension Services, The Rice Foundation, and the USA Rice Council collaborated on an industrywide annual event that would rotate around rice state cities.

Beginning with the 1992 meeting, held in Lafayette, Louisiana, the USA Rice Council was asked to assume full responsibility for financially underwriting, managing, and staffing the conference.  When the USA Rice Federation was formed in 1994, the USA Rice Council's responsibility for the conference was carried forward through the Federation, and this year will mark the 30th USA Rice Outlook Conference.  (The 2020 conference, scheduled for Austin, Texas, was canceled because of the Covid pandemic.) 

The conference has grown over the decades, adding an ever-expanding exhibit hall, education sessions, top notch speakers, networking opportunities, and more.  It now attracts around 750 attendees annually and has outgrown several cities that had hosted the event in early days, including Lafayette.

This year’s venue, the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, will feature an extended General Session, 19 hours of concurrent education sessions, the Annual Awards Luncheon sponsored by Horizon Ag, a ticketed USA Rice Political Action Committee gala, and more.

Arguably, the greatest draw for the conference traces back to those first events – the state rice research and outlook reports. 

Like everything else about the conference, this has grown as well, and now eight rice states will be represented on The Rice Foundation Stage on Monday, December 8.  Presenters include Drs. Adam Famoso and Ronnie Levy of Louisiana State University; Dr. Chase Floyd, University of Missouri; Dr. Jarrod Hardke, University of Arkansas; Drs. Dustin Harrell and Bruce Lindquist of UC Davis; Dr. Will Eubank of Mississippi State University; Drs. Joe Outlaw and Sam Rustom, Texas A&M; Daniel Cavazos for Florida; and Dr. Brian Ward of Clemson University for South Carolina.

To read more about the conference or register, or to learn about exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities, visit www.usarice.com/outlook.