From the Editor4 From the Editor

Fram’s Joe the Mechanic knew what he was talking about

Back in the 1970s, Fram oil filters ran a series of TV commercials touting how a little prevention, in the form of a regular oil change and oil filter, helped ward off costly engine repairs.

The take-home message: “You can pay me now or pay me later.”

That old advertisement came to mind during a recent video meeting with the University of Arkansas’ Extension entomology team of Gus Lorenz, Nick Bateman and Ben Thrash along with graduate students Chase Floyd and Trevor Newkirk.

During the past two years, the entomologists have documented a decrease in rice stink bug Vicky Boyd control using pyrethroids. They aren’t labeling Editor it as true resistance, but they nevertheless say the insecticides aren’t providing the same level of control they once did.

If growers and consultants don’t take a few steps now to prevent resistance from occurring, they may end up losing the economical insecticides. Those prevention steps — in the form of integrated pest management — include scouting, following thresholds and only treating when they are met or exceeded, and rotating effective modes of action. The same holds true for any pesticide.

The University of Arkansas entomologists attribute part of the problem to the practice of throwing a pyrethroid in with a fungicide during the boot spray timing. Growers may view it as cheap insurance, since they’re already paying for the plane to put out the fungicide and pyrethroids only cost a couple dollars an acre.

The problem is stink bugs typically don’t move into rice fields until the plants begin heading — a full two weeks after the fungicide treatment. Until then, they hang out on grassy weeds along the field edges, so putting out an insecticide is a waste of money.

Pyrethroids have a short residual of only a few days. They’re gone by the time stink bugs begin to move in, but the application still exposes any bugs in the area to pyrethroids, increasing selection pressure and weeding out susceptible individuals.

By the time you get to late-planted fields, where stink bugs tend to concentrate because of limited food in the area, pyrethroids may have lost their punch.

Joe the Mechanic in the ads missed his calling in entomology, but his famous words still apply to stink bug management. “You can pay me now or pay me later.”

Vicky

EDITORIAL/PRODUCTION

Editor Vicky Boyd 209-505-3612 vlboyd@onegrower.com

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2021 Rice Awards Nomination Form

The Rice Farmer of the Year, Rice Industry Award and Rice Lifetime Achievement Award recognize those rice leaders who have demonstrated dedication, determination and innovation to the industry. We need your help to identify candidates who are worthy of these prestigious awards. Please take time to consider which industry members in your area should be recipients of these honors and mail or scan/email this form and supporting materials.

Categories:

Please check the box of the appropriate award category:

q Rice Farmer of the Year Award

• Must farm at least 200 acres. • A farmer who has successfully achieved goals in his/her farming operation, rice industry association, community leadership/development, innovative production practices and/or environmental stewardship.

q Rice Industry Award

• Has been in the rice industry for more than five years. • A researcher, Extension person, government/association leader, etc… who has demonstrated commitment to the rice industry through innovative practices, industry association, community leadership/development.

If you are submitting more than one nomination form, please make a copy before you fill out the form. Nomination forms can be downloaded or submitted online at www.ricefarming.com.

Nominee’s name

Nominee’s address

Nominee’s phone number/email address

Nominee’s rice acreage (if applicable)

Number of years involved in the rice industry (if applicable)

Your name

q Rice Lifetime Achievement Award

• Has been in the rice industry for more than 10 years. • An industry leader who has provided great contributions to the rice industry through industry associations, community leadership/development, innovative practices/projects that have advanced the industry.

Deadline: June 30, 2021

Your profession

Your address

Your phone number/email address

Your signature Date

Please send completed form & supporting materials to: Carroll Smith

7201 Eastern Ave., Germantown, TN 38138 Scan/Email: csmith@onegrower.com

Include supporting materials to elaborate on your nomination:

In addition to completing this form, on a separate piece of paper, please describe the nominee in terms of the following guidelines:

Dedication to farming and/or agriculture and the rice industry, local community and education. Determination to succeed and overcome hurdles that have emerged while trying to reach goals. Innovation to identify new and better ways for the industry to become more profitable, manage risk, achieve a higher level of efficiency.

It also is helpful to send letters of recommendation for the nominee from other individuals in the rice industry who are familiar with his/her accomplishments. A panel of judges from across the Rice Belt will select the recipients of the 2021 Rice Awards.

The award recipients will be honored at the USA Rice Outlook Conference, Dec. 5-7 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where an official presentation will be made at the awards luncheon. They also will be featured in a special salute sponsored by Horizon Ag, USA Rice and Rice Farming magazine in the December 2021 issue.

SPONSORS

By Betsy Ward President and CEO USA Rice

USA Rice reminds consumers to ‘Start with Rice’

The COVID-19 pandemic has been terrible for millions of Americans and from an economic standpoint, one of the hardest hit sectors was foodservice. In many places, restaurants were forced to close dining rooms. Even if they weren’t, customers stayed away out of concern over the virus. As many as 20% of restaurants that were in business in January 2020 no longer are.

We saw a major shift in rice demand from the foodservice sector to the retail sector. You may recall empty grocery store shelves and limits on the number of staples one could purchase — items like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and rice and beans.

How to keep retail sales going

USA Rice was asked to explore ways to sustain the sales increase, so the Domestic Promotion Committee created a task force made up of millers and farmers representing all six rice-producing states. They developed a plan of paid media and retail partnerships that would connect with consumers to encourage them to buy more U.S.-grown rice and to feel good about the rice they already purchased. They identified seven U.S. markets where rice sales were not typically strong but had increased during the pandemic, had a good-sized population, were affordable from a media perspective and where there were a few dominant retailers we could partner with. The committee received the financial support of the USA Rice Council and Rice Millers’ Association, and we were “off to the races.” motion Board and a grant from the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

Between mid-November 2020 and early January, consumers in our target markets had the opportunity to see one of 42 Start with Rice billboards. They also were able to hear 16 unique commercials that offered rice tips and ideas on local radio and streaming audio services like Pandora, Spotify and iHeart Radio. All told, almost 59 million Americans saw or heard our advertisements.

More than 9.4 million consumers in the markets were also encouraged to Start with Rice through our partnerships with grocery chains Kroger, Meijer and Woodman’s. Activities included newsletters, digital ads, emails, and in-store signage and interactive kiosks.

Consumers paid attention

And the results were impressive. On consumer attitudes, people who had seen our ads were far more likely to identify positive attributes of rice that were included in our messaging. Among those were “rice is quick, delicious, versatile and families enjoy it.”

Importantly, more than half the people who saw or heard the ads remembered they were sponsored by “America’s Rice Farmers.”

We also grew by 33% the number of consumers who said they planned to purchase rice six to nine times in the coming month. Rice sales themselves were also affected by the campaign with sales in the target markets remaining above 2019 baseline levels.

One final metric was the number of people who saw or heard an ad and then went to our website, StartWithRice.com. Between November 2020 and April, our nationwide web traffic was actually down 15%. But in our target markets, traffic was up an average of 1,291%!

We set out to positively impact consumers, and I think you have to agree we did. We boosted consumers’ rice IQ; now more of them know you’re out there growing their rice and they have better ideas how to prepare it. Our new relationship with major retailers isn’t bad, either. You can count on us to continue to promote the great story and reputation of U.S.-grown rice to American consumers. 

Consumers in seven markets had opportunities to see 42 different billboards that promoted ‘Start with Rice.’

USA RICE

No need to reinvent the wheel

We didn’t need to recreate the wheel as our messaging was rooted in USA Rice consumer research from 2016 and 2017 that spawned the successful “Start with Rice” Certified Louisiana campaign. This program has been running since 2018, thanks to the Louisiana Rice Pro-