Rice Leadership Development Program Session One Goes to the Gulf Coast

By Andy Brown
Andy has both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Mississippi State University, and is the Commodity, Public Policy, & National Affairs Director at the Louisiana Farm Bureau.

WALKER, LA – My first session of the Rice Leadership Program started with the same recipe of every alumnus I spoke to: a little anxiousness and a lot of uncertainty on how I thought I could get away from my home duties for an entire week.  The fear of disappointing those who supported me to be accepted into the program and the fear of the phone call of Dr. Linscombe’s wrath encouraged me to head to Crowley in the pouring rain to meet up with my Louisianan brethren, Kane Webb, Cole Reiners, and John McLain, for the drive to Texas to teach everyone something about rice measured in barrels.

We gathered for the first time as a class for dinner in Katy, Texas, where we easily bonded over steaks and classmate Jason Satterfield’s first of many helpings of bread pudding, getting to know one another and building the relationships we had heard so much about.  Thanks to the program’s generous sponsors, John Deere, RiceTec, and American Commodity Company, we were well fed and well provided with lodging all week.

As someone who stumbled his way into the rice industry, I was instantly drawn to the first speaker, Pamela West with Brookshire Rice Dryers.  Her passion for service to farmers, her ability to innovate in the face of challenges, and her faith showed me we were kindred spirits.  Her message of “find your why” is something that goes well beyond rice.  We also met Michael Creed who talked about rice brokering and adapting to the changing needs of the customer.  As someone in the information sharing business, I appreciated Michael’s willingness to work with technology and customer service to stay relevant over the years.

We rounded out our classroom portion with the much anticipated media training.  This was the first of many times in Session One where I saw how my work experience as a niche part of the rice industry differs very much from my classmates.  But it solidified to me why I have the job security I do, as most farmers would rather pay a guy like me to wordsmith for them than be in the hot seat in front of the camera lens.  I would soon see in our travels in the coming days that I am not cut out to do many of the other parts of the industry.  We all have our places and talents.

Texas rice then took us global.  Starting at RiceTec, which partners with Texas farmers, researchers, and a lab of DNA geniuses to produce hybrid seed both domestically and abroad, we got a real world take on what makes their company tick.  Next we visited classmate Allen Anderson’s stomping grounds at Hlavinka Equipment that is the definition of ‘bigger in Texas’.  While I have seen equipment dealers with multiple locations, I had not been introduced to a family run equipment dealer who dominates African sales, builds water parks, and also manages thousands of acres of a diversified farm.  

Further into the western part of Texas rice, we met with The Rice Foundation Chair Timothy Gertson.  Tim had suffered blackbird damage in his rice field.  I write a check each year for blackbird mitigation work from the Louisiana Rice Research Board, but had never seen bird impact with my own eyes so that was a full circle moment for me.  We also met the Gertson flying service manager who talked about spraying and fertilizing.

My class was then adopted into the Rice Belt Warehouse family with a warm welcome and good discussion on all aspects of Texas rice marketing, trading, and logistics.  It was great to sit around a conference room table filled with history at Rice Belt related by Dick Ottis.   Passion travels, and it’s easy to sell something when you’re surrounded by a team who is as bought in as the folks at Rice Belt are about the future of rice in their area.

The last stop in Texas was at Douget’s Rice Mill.  While their label says, “extra fancy,” the atmosphere there was far from it, in the best possible way.  We were given total access and no question was left unanswered on how Douget’s stays successful.  I appreciated their hospitality and transparency.

On to God’s country – Louisiana – and my “home” in the sense of my rice family.  I am only five years into my time in south Louisiana but many of the next stops are the very places I am daily being schooled on the needs of rice, the people that make it what it is, and the culture that true rice ground brings.   

The air was damp and the port was buzzing as we toured Lake Charles and all the recovery efforts post-Hurricane Laura.  As an adopted son of the Bayou State, I appreciate the resiliency of people there like Therrance Chretien who rise above challenges to get the job done.  In true Louisiana fashion, the port is well on the way to coming back stronger than ever for rice shipments into the future.  Similarly, the South Louisiana Rail Facility shared stories of challenges and adaptations, and future plans as a successful co-op opening doors for Louisiana rice farmers.

The crawfish boil at the Richard operation in Kaplan is an annual tradition for me and pretty much anyone in the who’s who of Louisiana rice farming.  For a man who has worked on crawfish issues daily since September, it was a treat to get to share in the spoils of Allen McLain and his crew’s cooking skills.

From there, we met familiar faces at Supreme Rice, the Zaunbrecher family in Rayne, and my friends at the LSU Rice Research Station who all did a great job of showcasing the best Louisiana has to offer.  California classmates Carissa Lee and Everett Willey stayed busy documenting everything from crawfish boats, to apple snails, to automated baggers sacking Louisiana-grown jasmine at Supreme.

Finally, we ended our trip with another fantastic stop in New Orleans with the Russell Marine Group where domestic product meets global trade.

My first session was everything it was advertised to be.  I am typically on the planning side of trips like this, so I appreciate being able to step out of a service role for a week and into bettering myself as I continue to do my best to give back to the future of the rice industry.