Rice Farmer Liabilities Focus of ARGA on GMO Debate

Briefly stated, the Arkansas Rice Growers Association (ARGA) is asking that USA Rice Federation adopt a policy ensuring that a grower's rice won't be rejected if it tests positive LLRice at harvest if the seed used in the spring tested negative for LLRice traits.

We received an ARGA press release on the subject this afternoon. The text of the release follows:

Rice Farmer Liabilities Focus of ARGA on GMO Debate Last week in Little Rock representatives of the Arkansas Rice Growers Association (ARGA) attended an important meeting of the Arkansas State Plant Board where an emergency regulation was passed that reached beyond the prohibition on planting the Cheniere rice variety in Arkansas during 2007 and 2008. An additional regulation states “all seed used for planting in 2007 shall undergo testing for the purposes of identifying seed lots that contain variants of LLRICE.”

In an effort to represent Arkansas rice farmers’ interests, ARGA board members pushed a number of issues during the public comment phase of the meeting including one of particular concern directed to rice mills, “if a farmer has his seed tested and it is o.k. and he still has a load that tests positive upon delivery in 2007 will there be any liability or discount?” The first response came from Producers Rice Mill followed by Riceland Foods (both of Stuttgart, Arkansas) stating “that if a farmer followed the testing plan and a positive test was detected in his 07 deliveries he would not be held liable or receive any discounts”.

These statements by the mill representatives were read into the official minutes of the meeting and made a matter of record. This is great news for the farmer who can now plant with some price assurance according to John Alter, President of ARGA. Alter stated that, “the risk is so great and the cost of production is so high that price uncertainty would probably have forced many farmers to change their planting intentions.”

He added that, “We encourage the USA Rice Federation to adopt these statements into their plan so that the milling segment in general can give this agreement to all farmers in all rice producing states.”

As one farmer in attendance from Poinsett County commented, “ARGA may have just saved a large portion of the Arkansas rice farming industry by ensuring that farmers will not be discounted if they have followed the plan. I know many farmers who would not have planted rice in 2007 without this agreement. I congratulate them on their effort to represent the farmer.”

ARGA representatives were disappointed that the Plant Board did not take up the matter of an industry wide clean up (which was on the agenda). The seed is only one point in the growing cycle where mixing could take place. The storage facilities, transportation system, mills and elevators are all equally likely points where mixing problems might occur, and should also be addressed. The producers will ultimately bear the responsibility for the high cost of testing and are entitled to an industry wide effort to eliminate the problem as soon as possible.