We’ve been hearing a lot about rice shortages in the United States and throughout the world. But the U.S. Rice Producers Association is downplaying those reports.
Greg Yielding, Missouri Representative for the Association, says that while it is true that stocks throughout the world are at their lowest levels, there is no shortage of rice in this country. Yielding concedes we are seeing limits placed on sales of certain kinds of rice at places like Sam’s Club and Costco, but he points out those are specialty varieties of rice that are imported from India and Thailand.
Yielding says this should be seen as an opportunity to grow varieties of rice the U.S. is importing. The Bootheel is Missouri’s prime rice growing region, with about 200,000 acres dedicated to rice. Yielding says an additional 500,000 acres could be converted to rice growing if farmers chose to do that.
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