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USA Rice elects new two-year leadership as costs and low prices strain farms
The group cited unsustainably high input costs, low market prices, and global trade distortions, and said the 2026 crop will include close to 50,000 acres of aromatic rice.
USA Rice has elected new leadership for two-year terms during its annual membership meetings, with John Owen, a Louisiana rice farmer, named USA Rice chair, and Colin Holtzhaur, an Arkansas merchant, named chair of the USA Rice Merchants’ Association. Todd Burich, of ADM, was selected as chair of the USA Rice Millers’ Association, and John Frederick Denison, a Louisiana farmer, will lead The Rice Foundation.
World Grain reports the meetings brought together multiple industry groups, including 10 committees, seven boards of directors, and six major rice producing state delegations, to set priorities for the sector. USA Rice said US growers are facing economic headwinds from high input costs, low market prices, and global trade distortion, describing this as the lowest rice acreage planted since the 1970s.
Discussions also reflected concerns about supply chain interruptions, rising labor expenses, elevated interest rates, and broader market uncertainty. The industry additionally addressed efforts to improve grain quality after a first Aromatic Rice Quality Symposium.
World Grain also noted that USA Rice’s Dr. Steve Linscombe said the 2026 US crop will include close to 50,000 acres of aromatic rice, the largest acreage devoted to these specialty types to date. He added that newly released aromatic varieties and experimental lines were shown and sampled by rice breeders during the event.