Rice most expensive commodity to produce

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas

August 16, 2001 -- If you've driven far enough south, you've seen the big combines in the rice fields. Unlike their fathers before them, rice producers, today, seem to have things much easier. The cabs are air-conditioned and look like a jet cockpit, and you can enjoy the music of your choice while you harvest your crop.

All of this sounds too good.

In an ideal world, you would imagine that rice producers are all very wealthy people. Some are...Then, there's the other side to rice production.

"The United States grows about two percent of all the rice in the world, and yet we share about 20 percent of the export. Our biggest competitors in the export market are Viet Nam and Thailand," said Randy Waligura of Texana Seed Company in Garwood.

He said that while China and India grow about 60 percent of the rice in the world, most of it is consumed in their countries. While they are no threat to any other rice producing countries, now, they could be in the future.

"At one time, we had about 40 percent of the market, but they (other countries) are becoming much more efficient. They're upgrading their facilities, and they're able to buy a better quality product.

"The advantage we had 20 years ago was that our quality was so much better than theirs. The countries that we exported to had the money to buy the quality that we provided...Iran, Iraq...and they're embargoed, and that's caused a lot of problems," said Waligura.

Rice is understood to be the most expensive commodity crop to produce. It takes money to make money. It is labor intensive and time consuming. But some producers wouldn't do anything else...unless it pertained to rice and a second income.

"What rice has done is provide a secondary income to the sportsmen of Texas and the world. You need the habitat to keep the migrating waterfowl here. It brings in millions of dollars each year.

"There's lots of hunting. It's become big business...that's why I think rice farming will always be viable in our area. It's such an important part of our economy and the state," said Waligura.

"Waterfowl need the habitat. Without it, they'll go elsewhere. Birds fly where the food is."

As in other farming, larger producers and/or landowners appear to reap the best benefits.

According to Waligura, it costs about $500 per acre for a first crop, if you own the land, and about $600 per acre if you lease. If you are fortunate enough to get two crops in a season, the costs fall to $90-$100 per acre, and hopefully, the second crop will result in money not already allocated to land and equipment payments and living expenses.

As usual, the Farm Bill is always at the front of producers' minds, and dictates how much rice will be planted.

"It's really based on the current farm program and what the payment limitations are. That kind of dictates how much you can farm, because without that government subsidy, you can't hardly farm.

"That determines how big you are. Each payment limit equates to about 250 acres of rice to cover that payment," said Waligura.

Many producers, who actually farm the land, have problems with the farm bill. It seems to contribute more than a fair share to absent landowners than to the farmer doing the actual work.

Waligura says that the current farm bill has the industry down because it has taken a lot of acres out of production. The reason is that it allows absentee landowners or landlords who've been leasing their ground out the past 30 years, to farmers who have been generating $80-$110 and acre for him, to kick the farmers off the land. This allows them to collect a payment, directly, and get another $20-$30 an acre.

"I have no difficulty if you're the owner/farmer. I have a problem with absentee landlords that the only time he sees rice is when they serve it to him in a restaurant," said Waligura.

"Rice is the only commodity crop that has this high payment. They have payments in corn and cotton, but the way the landowner makes more money is having that farmer on his land farming, not through government payments," he added.

Meanwhile, it is harvest time in the rice fields. The producers are busy trying to reap their crops before the rains come so they can get fertilizer down and...hopefully...a second crop. Wild hogs, weeds, unwanted grass and bugs are a constant threat.

"The market will probably be decent, but with the increased yield we're having, the market is going to move down," said Waligura.

Rice producers know all of this, but as Jim Korenek, a producer around Garwood said, there's nothing else he'd rather be doing...unless he wins the Lottery!