WASHINGTON, DC – This week, more than sixty industry leaders representing the rice farmer, merchant, and milling sectors will travel here to meet with legislators and Administration officials, hear policy updates, and advocate for leveling the global playing field on trade.
The jam-packed schedule of events starts tomorrow morning with issues briefings by Arkansas Senator John Boozman, chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee; as well as officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The group will also hear from a panel of professional ag advocates on how their organizations are communicating farm policy priorities to legislators to ensure they understand the current economic hardships facing American agricultural communities.
Rice industry representatives will then fan out across Capitol Hill to meet with legislators and their staff face-to-face to talk about the
struggling ag economy and the need for further Congressional assistance to maintain the rice industry.
U.S. rice farmers need additional economic assistance for two primary reasons: India and the rest of Asia’s massive over-subsidization of its rice industry and to combat rising input costs. The attendees will also be continuing the rally call for universal rice import tariffs to be implemented to stem the flood of imports that have tripled over the last two decades.
“Since 2021, American rice farmers have been planting crops and losing money when they sell them,” said USA Rice President & CEO Peter Bachmann. “The cost of production keeps going up, and illegally subsidized foreign rice keeps driving down our prices. We’re asking that lawmakers work with USDA to provide an additional layer of economic support this winter to ensure farmers can put a crop in the ground this spring.”