USA Rice Participates in USDA Rice Research Celebration

STUTTGART, AR – Last week, luminaries from the worlds of agriculture, science, and politics gathered here to celebrate 25 years of leading rice research at the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center.

Acting Center Director Dr. Yulin Jia opened the center’s labs and greenhouses for tours and talks from the dedicated scientists who call the state-of-the-art facility home. 

A highlight of the tour was the stop at the Genetic Stocks Oryza (GSOR) collection.  Geneticist and curator Dr. Trevis Huggins explained the significance of the GSOR program that is responsible for storing, maintaining, documenting, and distributing (free of charge) these materials to the scientific community for use in genetic and genomic research.  Ultimately these materials will aid in the understanding of the genetic control of traits that can be used to enhance the development of new cultivars that meet the needs of the U.S. rice industry.  

The tours also visited the lab that separates and identifies genetic markers, and then stopped at labs where the information is put to use as scientists at the center study plant stress reactions associated with climate change, grain nutritional qualities, and disease tolerance, among other topics.

Attendees gathered in the Center’s lecture hall as Jia introduced the many speakers who all wanted to congratulate the Center’s leadership and employees.  First, USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics Sanah Baig welcomed everyone to the Center and shared some research highlights from the past 25 years.  USDA Agricultural Research Service officials Archie Tucker and Nora Lapitan offered their congratulations as well.

U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) sent video remarks in which he thanked the staff at the Center for continuing to keep Arkansas at the forefront of rice, and Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward talked about the valued partnerships that grow out of the work being done at the Center.

Industry speakers then talked about what the Center has meant for their constituents.  USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward thanked the scientists for their work on costly threats such as blast.

“We know rice blast alone causes $66 billion of global crop damage annually,” she said.  “But thanks to Dr. Jia and his team, we now know a gene that offers rice blast resistance.  They are working to ‘Put Blast in the Past,’ and you can use that tagline!”

Keith Glover, president & CEO of Producers Rice Mill, shared his memories of the day the Center opened, reading from his October 1998 newsletter in which he wrote that sometime in the future, the opening of the Center would be looked back on as a very meaningful and significant event.  “I think that’s exactly what we’re doing today,” he said.

Glover also talked about the important of sustaining rice research and encouraged all present to continue advocating for resources for the Center, the only national facility dedicated to rice research.

Riceland Foods President & CEO Jason Brancel looked ahead to the next 25 years, reiterating how valuable the work being done at the Center would prove for the industry going forward.

The morning program wrapped up with a mini-lecture in rice science from Dr. Jan Leach, Distinguished Professor, Associate Dean for Research, College of Agricultural Sciences, Colorado State University; remarks from rice farmer Tim Ralston who credited the Center with helping expand the varieties he is able to produce on his family farm; University of Arkansas Vice President for Agriculture Deacue Fields III and Jean-Francios Meullenet, Director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station praised the outstanding collaboration that exists between their organization and the Center; and finally Jack Okamuro, USDA ARS National Program Leader, thanked everyone for attending and saluted the hard work of the full facility staff, past and present.

Following a lunch, the program continued with awards and panel discussions on short and long term needs for the Center and the U.S. rice industry.