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A Global Staple
U.S. Rice Production
Marketing and Use
Challenges for the U.S. Rice Industry
A Global Staple
Rice is the primary staple for more than half the world's population, with Asia and Africa the largest consuming regions. Developing countries have long depended on its versatility and high caloric value. In recent decades, consumption has increased in developed Western countries.
An ancient grain, rice is known to have been domesticated as early as the fifth millennium B.C. The species cultivated in Asia, believed to be where rice originated, is Oryza sativa from the Graminaceae (grass) family. It is also the species cultivated in most of today's rice-producing countries. Rice is produced worldwide and is the world's second- or third-largest staple crop, behind corn (maize) and, prior to milling, about the same as total wheat production.
Although rice is produced over vast areas of the world, the physical requirements for growing rice (available water, soil types) are limited to certain areas. Economically sound production typically requires high average temperatures during the growing season, a plentiful supply of water applied in a timely fashion, a smooth land surface to facilitate uniform flooding and drainage, and a subsoil hardpan that inhibits the percolation of water.
Four major types of rice are produced worldwide:
- Indica is grown mostly in tropical and subtropical regions and accounts for more than 75 percent of global trade. Indica rice cooks dry, with separate grains.
- Japonica rice, typically grown in regions with cooler climates, accounts for more than 10 percent of global rice trade.
- Aromatic rice, primarily jasmine from Thailand and basmati from India and Pakistan, accounts for more than 10 percent of global trade and typically sells at a premium in world markets.
- Glutinous rice, grown mostly in Southeast Asia and used in desserts and ceremonial dishes, accounts for most of the remainder.
U.S. Rice Production
Four regions produce almost the entire U.S. rice crop:
- Arkansas Grand Prairie,
- Mississippi Delta, (parts of Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Louisiana);
- Gulf Coast (Texas and Southwest Louisiana); and
- Sacramento Valley of California.
Each of these regions generally specializes in a specific type of rice, which, in the United States, is referred to by length of grain—long, medium, and short. U.S. long-grain varieties typically cook dry and separate, while U.S. medium/short-grain varieties are typically moist and clingy.
- Long grain is grown almost exclusively in the South and accounts for more than 70 percent of U.S. production.
- Medium grain, grown both in California and the South, accounts for more than one-fourth of total U.S. production and forms most of California's rice crop. Arkansas accounts for most of the southern medium-grain production.
- Short grain accounts for 1-2 percent of total U.S. rice production and is grown almost exclusively in California.
All U.S. rice is produced in irrigated fields, achieving some of the highest yields in the world. Producers in the United States can apply seed aerially in dry or flooded fields, or drill or broadcast seed into dry fields. Fertilizers, insecticides, and pesticides can also be applied by air. California producers seed primarily by air directly into flooded fields. Except for southwest Louisiana and the Texas Gulf Coast, most producers in the South drill seed.
Planting typically begins in early March in Texas and southwest Louisiana. The Delta plants the bulk of its crop in April, and California's crop is planted from late April through mid-May. Harvest begins in early or mid-July in Texas and southwest Louisiana. Peak harvest in the South is in September and early October, when the Delta harvests the bulk of its crop. Some producers in Texas and southwest Louisiana are able to reflood their fields after harvest and achieve a partial second or "ratoon" crop from the stubble of the first. California typically begins harvest at the end of September and finishes by early November.
Marketing and Use
Except for rough (unmilled) rice exports and domestic seed sales, virtually all U.S. rice is marketed as a whole-kernel milled product. In contrast, the bulk of wheat is sold as flour. For rice, care is necessary throughout the production, drying, storage, milling, and marketing phases to minimize the number of broken kernels, which sell at a considerable discount to whole-kernel rice.
Five different products (or types of rice) can be produced from rough rice: hulls, bran, brown rice, whole-kernel milled rice, and brokens (broken-kernel milled rice). The first stage of milling removes the hull, producing brown rice that can be cooked and consumed. The next stage of milling removes the bran layer, leaving milled white rice. Or, prior to milling, rough rice may be parboiled, a process of soaking the rice in water and steaming it under intense pressure. Parboiling makes the rice less likely to break during milling and pushes nutrients from the bran layer into the kernel. Parboiled rice typically sells at a premium. On average, for every 100 pounds of rough rice produced, about 55 pounds of whole-kernel milled rice, 15 pounds of brokens, 8-9 pounds of bran, and 20 pounds of hull are produced.
About half of the U.S. rice crop is sold into the domestic market, which has more than doubled in size since the early 1980s. In recent years, rice use in the United States has been growing more than 1 percent a year, slightly ahead of U.S. population growth. Increasing domestic use of rice is partly attributed to demographic factors, including immigration and changing ethnic composition, with groups with high per capita rice consumption increasing their share of the U.S. population. Healthy lifestyles, convenience, and continued introduction of new rice-based products also contribute to steady growth in domestic use.
Domestic uses of rice include food for human consumption (directly and in processed foods), beer, and pet food. Direct food use accounts for more than half of domestic disappearance of rice. Use in processed foods—primarily package mixes, cereal, and rice cakes—has been the fastest growing food use for more than two decades. Use of rice in beer production, at about 10-12 percent of domestic disappearance, has been either stagnant or declining since the mid-1980s. Rice use for pet food, which almost exclusively involves broken grains, accounts for 10-12 percent of total domestic disappearance.
See the Trade chapter for information and U.S. rice imports and exports.
Challenges for the U.S. Rice Industry
The combination of high operating costs (fuel, fertilizer, and irrigation expenses), steady growth in imports, and stiff competition from Asian suppliers presents tough challenges for the U.S. rice industry. Higher fuel and fertilizer costs are among the most critical, since rice is a high-cost crop to grow in the United States. For example, running pumps and conducting other operations required for flood irrigation account for the much higher fuel and energy costs for rice than for other field crops.
Most U.S. rice imports are aromatic varieties from Asia—jasmine from Thailand and basmati from India and Pakistan. Aromatic varieties of the same quality are not currently grown in the United States. U.S. plant breeders have research underway, but until the United States develops varieties of the same quality as the Asian aromatic varieties, imports and the import share of domestic disappearance will continue to increase.
The global market for rice is dominated by Asian suppliers, which presents tough competition for U.S. rice growers. Although U.S. rice exports are consistently of high-quality, Thailand, for more than two decades, and India, more recently, have sharply improved the quality of some grades of rice they export. Top-quality exports from these countries can now compete with U.S. rice in some global markets. Exports remain critical to the health and viability of the U.S. rice industry, since the industry is more dependent on the global market than U.S. producers of corn and soybeans.
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