At RiceTec, Jared Holzhauer in red shirt at center
Apr 18, 2023
By Jared Holzhauer
Jared is a fourth-generation farmer from Gillett, Arkansas, where he served as mayor for 12 years. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Meteorology from Mississippi State University and worked as a research specialist at the University of Arkansas Rice Research Center before returning to his family farm in 2010.
GILLETT, AR – If I was to sum the first session of our Leadership Class in a single sentence, it would be: You don’t know how much you don’t know until you are shown. I entered into this program near the upper age limit and frankly, nearly missed my opportunity. After this initial session, I can truly see how much I would have missed had I let it pass me by. I spent the majority of my adult life focusing on my farm, my family, and my community, with very little attention paid to the wider rice industry. I thought I had a good grasp on how things go in other rice farming areas but now I know I am only a small sprout in a large field.
After an introductory dinner where class members met and uncovered our differences and similarities, we started into the real work on Monday for a full day of meetings focused on a broad overview of the U.S. rice industry from Dr. Steve Linscombe with USA Rice, Marcela Garcia from the U.S. Rice Producers Association, Michael Creed from the Creed Rice Company, and Steve Powell from Solum Consulting.
Powell walked us through the way the media sometimes portrays the ag industry in an unfavorable light and while I have been interviewed before on my local television and radio, I have never been confronted with a hostile interview. We were coached on how to deal with these potentially uncomfortable situations and how to maintain control of the message when faced with a negative interview or commentator.
The next day, we visited RiceTec. As a long-time grower of hybrid rice, I was excited to see their facility and see firsthand the technology used to breed hybrid rice. We had lunch at Hlavinka Equipment where the concept of diversified businesses is taken to a whole new level as this equipment dealer has created a waterpark, amongst other endeavors. Then program alumni Timothy Gertson took us on a tour of his farming operation in Wharton, Texas. We ended at Rice Belt Warehouse with a lot of discussion about Identity Preservation or IP rice. Identity Preservation of rice was a new concept for me, as all of my rice is placed in the pool and mixed with everyone else’s rice of all varieties. I learned that Texans pride themselves on providing rice that can be traced back to the individual farmer.
Wednesday was a day of rice farming, milling, and crawfish with tours of Douget’s Rice Milling Company, the South Louisiana Rail Facility, and alumni Ross Thibodeaux’s farm in Midland, Louisiana. At Christian Richard’s operation, we heard about his tail water recovery system which uses an existing waterway to recapture and distribute the water runoff from his farm. That evening, more Louisiana alumni joined us for a crawfish boil where we discussed the challenges of the ever-increasing push of sugarcane acres into rice territory. We ended the evening with some real group bonding time with six of us guys in bunkbeds at Crawfish Haven. It’s a shame that Chrissie Bland-Miller, our only female class member, missed out on the pillow fights!
A trip to Supreme Rice, in Crowley, kicked off our Thursday session. I was impressed with their modernization plans and their mechanized processing and packaging facilities. I also could really relate to their equipment and custom harvesting plan available for farmers who might not be able to afford the latest and greatest equipment, or those who just need to get it done more quickly.
The H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station was next on our agenda. We had the privilege of getting our photo taken in front of the Dr. Steve Linscombe Auditorium with the real Dr. Linscombe! Here we talked about some of the differences and similarities of rice varieties from Louisiana and the other rice growing states. We saw how the crossing of rice varieties works as well as some of their DNA marker research. The highlight was getting a demonstration of drone chemical application that I have read about but never seen in action.
Our final visit on Thursday was at the Zaunbrecher farm in Rayne for an up-close look at a crawfish operation. It was a treat to get to see how the crawfish that I love so much are raised and harvested as we got to ride on the crawfish boat while traps were harvested and reset.
The final day of Session I began with an excursion on the Mississippi River with Russell Marine Group (RMG). I was blown away by the scale of the industry there as the sheer number of barges, tugs, and ocean-going vessels was staggering. We watched a barge be unloaded and even got to see a wheeled loader being lifted and then lowered into a barge. It was like being in an episode of Modern Marvels and it was right up my alley.
Finally, we got a tour of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service Center in New Orleans where they do food research on rice and rice by-products. We sampled some new rice juice products and provided our opinions on what they could be doing to create more value for the rice industry.
I learned so much from our first session, much of which came from discussions with Dr. Linscombe and my fellow class members from all the rice-producing states who brought their unique opinions and practices to share. I commend the program sponsors, American Commodity Company, John Deere, and RiceTec, for their support of the leadership program, because without them, none of this would be possible.