WASHINGTON, DC – Michael Klein was a fly-on-the-wall at the packed USA Rice Farm Policy Fly-In held here last week. Between conversations and policy discussions of rising input costs, trade pressures, emergency assistance, world rice stocks, planting intentions, and more, Klein snagged some important and informative interviews shared in the
latest podcast episode.
First, Paul T. Combs of Sunrise Land Company in Missouri talked about important calculations growers need to make before heading to their local Farm Service Agency office to report planting decisions. Then, USA Rice Farmers Board Chair Fred Zaunbrecher talked about the reception the rice teams had on Capitol Hill, particularly in non-rice states.
Then Klein interviewed USDA Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Richard Fordyce and USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden about the challenges facing rice farmers they are working to address, including input costs, and paperwork burdens.
Lastly, Klein sat down with recently retired USDA ag economist Nathan Childs who was honored with a Lifetime Contribution Award by USA Rice during last week’s World Market Price Subcommittee meeting. The unfiltered Childs talked about applied economics, agriculture, the PIK years, market instability and how to counteract it, and the importance of learning from history – rice or otherwise.
New episodes of
The Rice Stuff are published twice each month and can be found on your favorite podcast services or
www.TheRiceStuffPodcast.com.