New USDA program a boost for rice farmers

An ag policy specialist says USDA’s new one-time market-based program for rice producers is a much-needed boost ahead of the next farm bill.

Jamison Cruce, the senior director of government affairs with the U.S. Rice Federation, says the program will help rice farmers overcome their lowest production year on record in 30 years.

“From the south and along the Gulf Coast, stagnant prices across the U.S. and high input costs hampered a farmer’s ability to be profitable in 2022 and out west in California, their acreage was cut in half due to the ongoing drought.”

Cruce says price is always a big risk for rice farmers.

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