Texas Rice Growers Meet to Discuss Industry Needs

EL CAMPO & WINNIE, TX – On back-to-back days last week, the Western Rice Belt Production Conference and Southeast Texas Rice Symposium were hosted by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.  These events brought together growers, extension specialists, and other industry experts to share their knowledge and challenges as folks gear up for the planting season.  USA Rice staff was in attendance, sharing a booth with a team from Ducks Unlimited.

Across both events, Dr. Sam Rustom provided everyone with an update on the challenges and outlook facing producers in the Texas rice-producing region.  Additionally, given the unprecedented challenges the rice delphacid posed across the region in 2025, significant attention was devoted to providing updates on efforts to combat these infestations. 

In El Campo, Drs. David Kerns and Linda Bernaola both gave updates on rice delphacid research.  In Winnie, Bernaola was on the agenda again, giving the rice delphacid update, which included efforts to identify insecticides that can be used on rice delphacid and ongoing work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to secure Section 18 requests for the Centric and Dimilin labels.

Throughout the session, other presentations covered new herbicide technology in rice with Dr. Connor Webster, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pesticide application licensing requirements and application research, rice variety research, and rice buyer perspectives from Matt Hendricks of Riviana Foods.  Tommy Turner gave the Texas Rice Council Report, and there were ag policy updates from Sydney Lundberg with Combest, Sell & Associates, and Dr. Hank Nelson with Texas A&M University.  During the luncheon in El Campo, winners of the Rice Poster Contest were recognized, chosen from the more than 90 submissions from area students. 

Jake Westlin, USA Rice vice president of government affairs, was on hand to answer grower questions and provide an update on the Farmers Bridge Assistance Program, lobbying efforts to secure additional economic assistance, and key rice wins secured under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

“Texas A&M AgriLife Extension did a great job organizing these informative meetings, where it was a good opportunity to visit with producers and hear their thoughts and concerns going into the 2026 crop year,” said Westlin.  “There have been a lot of policy developments over the past year, and it was good to be in Texas rice country to hear their perspectives on ag policy as we continue our efforts in Washington, DC.”