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In This Issue:
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Market Update: Rice Farmers Looking For Price Support
- Washington, D.C. Update
- Stoesser Scholar Awarded Fulbright Scholarship
- Survey Opportunity Regarding Farm Technology
- Photo from Rice Country
| | Rice Farmers Looking For Price Support | | |
A person would be hard pressed to drive through Louisiana rice country and not see at least some rice beginning to head out, as 27% is reported headed this week per the USDA Crop Progress Report. Texas is reported at 18%, with both states being ahead of the 5-year average. The rice condition is on par with last year, which offered 83% in the good/excellent categories. Last week, it was 77%, and this week it is 74%. While the trend isn’t ideal, the rice isn’t rated as poor or very poor, but fair.
Actual planted long grain acreage continues to be debated as wet conditions in NE Arkansas and SE Missouri, and seed availability, contributed to lower than expected plantings. Prices haven’t changed—for paddy or milled—significantly in the last week. Iraq business remains the key driver for milled business right now, and the saving grace at that. With South America coming on strong with a large crop, stable quality, and lower prices, the United States is hard pressed to find new business at the moment. And with India gobbling up the cheaper markets around the globe with its unfairly subsidized rice, competition will be fierce for the coming crop.
A recent GAIN report on India highlights the dire situation they are putting the global rice trade in. Multiple concurrent record crops are depressing prices, even while Indian rice producers get unfairly subsidized to flood the export market and balloon domestic stocks. India’s rice production forecast for MY 2025/2026 has been raised to 150 million metric tons due to an increase in area harvested, now projected at 126 million acres. This growth is driven by an early and well-distributed 2025 monsoon, which is expected to boost both planting and yields. Farmers are likely to choose rice over other crops due to its resilience and government subsidies. For MY 2024/2025, production is also revised upward to a record 149 MMT from 127 million acres, based on higher-than-expected yields for kharif rice and expanded rabi/summer planting. These projections have increased despite weak market prices, spelling more pain for Vietnam, Thailand, and other rice exporters.
India’s rice exports for MY 2024/2025 are projected to reach a record 24.5 million metric tons, driven by strong export momentum through March 2025, with 12.7 MMT already shipped compared to 7.1 MMT during the same period last year. With monthly exports averaging around 2 MMT, this pace is expected to continue. Looking ahead, MY 2025/2026 exports are forecast higher at 25 MMT, assuming stable export policies and favorable price parity, supported by abundant domestic supplies and weak domestic prices that may prompt the government to release additional stocks into the market.
We will report on bright spots as they become available, but until there is an updated farm bill that addresses the price distortions and input costs that rice producers are suffering through, it will continue to be a financially tight season
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Senate Finance Committee Releases Reconciliation Text:
On Monday, the Senate Finance Committee released legislative text within the Finance Committee’s jurisdiction for inclusion in Senate Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill. Similar to that of the House Ways and Mean reconciliation text, Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) and his Committee’s bill reforms the tax code by extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts, provides additional tax relief to working families and small businesses, boosts the economy through pro-growth tax policy, and achieves net government savings. Looking at the bill from an agricultural perspective, the package expands and extends 199A deductions, restores bonus depreciation, increases Section 179 expensing, and raises the estate tax exemption level. Now, with all the committees having released their respective reconciliation texts, the Parliamentarian and Committee staff continue to vet provisions using the “Byrd Rule”, which restricts what can be included in reconciliation legislation in the Senate. The Senate’s complete reconciliation package could be considered on the floor as early as next week as lawmakers race against the pressure of a July 4 deadline imposed by the White House. You can find the complete Senate Finance reconciliation text here.
House Appropriations to Resume Ag-FDA Bill Next Week:
This week, the House Appropriations Committee released its upcoming markup schedule for the next few weeks while in session. On the calendar, the Committee rescheduled the markup for the Fiscal Year 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Bill for Monday, June 23. This comes after the Full Committee initially started to markup the bill on June 11, but, due to Congressional events and the coinciding markup of the FY26 defense appropriations bill, the markup has been postponed for a later date. Now, the Committee will look to resume where the left off with amendments, and it is more than likely that the bill will pass out of Committee along a party line vote. You can watch the markup once it streams live here.
| | Stoesser Scholar Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship | | |
Congratulations to 2024 Ray Stoesser Memorial Scholarship Recipient Ryan Williamson on his selection as a Fulbright Scholar!
We are incredibly proud of Ryan and all that he has accomplished. A recent graduate of Texas A&M with a Bachelor of Business Administration focused on international trade and agriculture, Ryan will teach English and U.S. culture in the Czech Republic while gaining a deeper understanding of the host country’s culture and agricultural system. We wish him the very best as he embarks on this exciting new chapter!
| | Survey Opportunity Regarding Farm Technology | | |
Alex Brinkmeier, a fourth-generation farmer and Ph.D. student at Saint Louis University, is conducting a brief 5-minute survey to explore how family farms make decisions about adopting new technology.
Your insights will help deepen the understanding of what drives innovation on family farms and support research that could shape the future of agriculture.
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Food & Agriculture
Regulatory & Policy Roundup
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Deadline: August 15, 2025
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Inter-Rice World Rice Market Report
May 2025
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India: Grain & Feed Update
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August 14, 2025
Missouri Rice Research & Merchandising Council Annual Field Day
Glennonville, MO
More details to come
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October 3 - 4, 2025
Texas Rice Festival Education Exhibit
Winnie, TX
More details to come
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February 5 - 6, 2026
29th Annual National Conservation Systems Cotton & Rice Conference
Jonesboro, AR
More details to come
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