From left: Zach Tanner, Dustin Harrell, and Ronnie Levy
Dec 10, 2025
NEW ORLEANS, LA – Every year at the Annual Rice Awards Luncheon, the U.S. rice industry bestows three awards: Rice Farmer of the Year, the Rice Industry Award, and the Rice Lifetime Achievement Award. These annual recognitions, jointly sponsored by Horizon Ag and USA Rice, highlight some of the most positive achievements associated with the U.S. rice industry.
The 2025 Rice Farmer of the Year is Zach Tanner, who grew up working alongside his father and uncle on the family operation near Bernie, Missouri. Farming, and particularly rice farming, has always been at the center of Zach’s life. He represents the third generation on the farm, with his two sons, Zachary, and Luke, making up the fourth.
Today, the Tanners farm roughly 7,200 acres divided among seed rice, popcorn, soybeans, and a small amount of field corn. Of those crops, seed rice demands the greatest focus, expense, and attention to detail.
“Growing seed rice is different from farming a conventional rice crop. It takes some special care,” Zach said. “Our goal is to have 100 percent purity and very high germination. To achieve that, the stars need to align, and you need to constantly focus on practices that may seem inefficient or costly but make a difference in purity and quality.”
For Zach, rice farming is not just an occupation but a family bond and a legacy. “For us, rice farming is very much a family affair. The connection with our past and our family today, it’s like no other career. I take pride in being a rice farmer.”
Dr. Dustin Harrell, recipient of the 2025 Rice Industry Award, is director of the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation’s Rice Experiment Station, and a self-proclaimed “rice fanatic.”
Dustin’s path to becoming one of the nation’s leading rice agronomists was anything but straightforward. He began his career teaching agriculture at the high school level in Texas after graduating from Texas A&M University. But his passion for soil science and agronomy eventually pulled him back to the university classroom and he pursued a master’s degree in soil fertility at Stephen F. Austin State University and later earned his PhD in soil fertility and agronomy at Louisiana State University (LSU). When the opportunity arose to join LSU’s Rice Research Station in Crowley, Louisiana, Dustin pursued it, despite never once having set foot in a rice field.
“I had worked in forages, fertility, and corn, but never in rice,” Dustin recalled. “Dr. Steve Linscombe gave me a chance, and I knew from a soil fertility standpoint that being in a flooded environment was exciting. It’s a more stable system, and you can do things in rice you can’t do in other crops.”
That opportunity proved to be life changing. Dustin began as a research agronomist, then stepped into the role of rice extension state specialist, and by the time he left LSU, he was not only the extension specialist but also the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Center director.
In recent years, Dustin has led the Rice Experiment Station in Biggs, California, where, under his leadership, the station has released several new varieties, including the first aromatic Calrose rice, and advanced Roxy rice, the industry’s first herbicide-tolerant rice in California.
Having worked in both the southern U.S. and California, Dustin is uniquely positioned to understand the challenges of each. He emphasizes that farmers, whether in Louisiana or California, share the same values. “Rice farmers everywhere are focused on producing the best crop possible and supporting their families. That’s universal.”
Dr. Ronnie Levy received the 2025 Rice Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his more than four decades of service to farmers, his leadership in research and extension, and his enduring commitment to keeping rice farming both productive and sustainable.
For Dr. Steve Linscombe, longtime LSU AgCenter rice breeder and director of The Rice Foundation, the 2025 Rice Lifetime Achievement Award is the ultimate recognition of a career defined by service and impact.
“The Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor in the U.S. rice industry, and Ronnie is very deserving,” Linscombe said. “He’s been a tremendous asset, both in Louisiana and across the country, throughout his long career in agriculture.”
That career began in 1979, when he joined the LSU AgCenter as an assistant county agent dealing with a broad range of crops and farm programs. He worked his way up the LSU AgCenter ranks, served farmers directly in Acadia Parish, then broadened his expertise as he earned a PhD in agronomy and weed science.
He became the LSU AgCenter’s soybean, corn, and grain sorghum specialist, then served as interim regional director for the central region of the state. In 2014, after almost 40 years of service, Ronnie retired briefly, only to quickly return to his first love, rice, as Louisiana state rice specialist. “That’s been the highlight of my career,” he said. “Rice was always where my heart was.”
For Ronnie, the 2025 Rice Industry Lifetime Achievement Award is less a personal accolade than a reflection of the community he’s served. “This award means a lot, but it’s really about the people, the farmers, my family, my colleagues. I’ve just been fortunate to walk alongside them on this journey.”