USA
June 23, 2015
Horizon Ag's ongoing commitment to improving U.S. rice quality and creating opportunity for American farmers to benefit from growing quality rice continued this month at the 2015 Rice Market and Technology Convention (RMTC) in Cancun, where we were once again a sponsor.
A production of the U.S. Rice Producers Association, the RMTC does an outstanding job of bringing together rice industry professionals with the goals of improving farming practices, increasing rice consumption and to promote overall rice trade in the Western Hemisphere. As a convention sponsor and participant for the past four years, we have made many valuable contacts from various Latin American countries who are involved in sourcing and buying rice from the United States. We have passed out rice samples and engaged convention participants about the rice quality and cooking properties desired by Latin American consumers.
It's no secret that U.S. rice exports to Central America and Mexico have declined. Rice buyers are sourcing rice from other countries producing more desirable quality than what they can consistently get from the United States. Our interactions, both at the convention, and afterward, have offered many benefits to our industry, seed partners and farmers.
Breeding for Better Quality
Many of our U.S. public rice breeding partners are attendees of the convention. Together with these breeders we have gained valuable information about desirable rice quality and cooking properties from rice buyers in important export markets such as Central America and Mexico. This information is being used in the breeding programs for Clearfield® varieties so that we may continue to improve quality and open more doors for U.S. rice.
Horizon Ag uniquely understands the complex world of rice quality and we continue to champion this position and the advantages it holds for the U.S. rice industry and our farmer customers. We are committed to working with our university and seed partners to provide new Clearfield varieties bred to improve, not only production at the farm level, but also better grain quality to address the concerns and needs of all rice buyers, both foreign and domestic.
New Horizon Ag Clearfield varieties are being introduced this season that will be steps in the right direction toward improving quality and cooking properties, allowing U.S. farmers to deliver more desirable grain. CL163, which offers early maturity, Cheniere-like texture, 26% amylose content and the "Newrex" cereal chemistry, is one of the new varieties being brought to market that is already highly regarded by major buyers.
IP Quality Rice Contracts
Horizon Ag's sponsorship of RMTC is opening doors, connecting Horizon Ag and our customers with the many rice buyers in Latin America who are searching for reliable quantities of quality rice grown in the United States. Some of our valuable contacts with rice buyers at the convention have resulted in action on the ground to identify large quantities of desirable-quality rice in the U.S. and get that rice shipped to its destination.
In March of this year, we assisted a buyer in Costa Rica with locating quantities of CL152. We worked with partners to get several barge loads of this desired-quality rice to the buyer. It resulted in a major win for the farmer, who received a premium, and the buyer, who fulfilled a need.
Horizon Ag Clearfield rice varieties are among the best milling lines grown in the U.S., consistently exceeding the base 55/70 milling. Currently, we are working with multiple organizations and businesses to make identity-preserved quality rice a reality in the United States because we truly believe it provides tremendous potential for growing the export business for U.S.-grown rice. It also offers significant benefits to our important customers, such as those in Latin America, by ensuring they get the superior quality product they are asking for and want to purchase.
We expect these opportunities to occur more and more, and look forward supporting those initiatives.
Horizon Ag Field Day in Louisiana
I invite you to attend the Horizon Ag Clearfield Rice Field Day in Crowley, Louisiana on June 30, where you can learn about new Clearfield varieties in the pipeline, best management practices for Clearfield varieties and see the first Provisia™ rice varieties being worked on by BASF and the LSU Rice Breeding Program. The Provisia™ Rice System will allow farmers to safely apply Provisia™ herbicide, over the top of rice to control red rice including Newpath® resistant red rice, and other types of weedy rice off-types.
Registration begins at 9 a.m. For more information, including directions to the event location, please go to the Horizon website: www.horizonseed.com.
Thank you for your business and we wish you the best of luck with the 2015 rice crop.
Tim Walker
General Manager, Horizon Ag
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