Rice Field Day held

Shannon Moon studies a display on rice fertility and agronomy Wednesday morning at the Rice Field Day. The event, held at the Rice Experiment Station in Crowley, celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Howell Dennis

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By Howell Dennis
NEWS EDITOR

CROWLEY – The LSU AgCenter used their annual Rice Field Day program not only to discuss the improvements and innovations of the rice industry during the past year, but to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Rice Research Station which was established in 1909 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“This is a very special year for us,” said Dr. Steve Linscombe. “The 100th year of this station’s existence is a testament to the strength of our industry and how we’ve survived through all these years, even when things were tough.”
Linscombe then introduced the Chairman of the Louisiana Rice Research Board Jackie Loewer who discussed and recognized the hard work that his board has put in over the past year.
“These aren’t people who just show up for meetings,” said Loewer. “These people are appointed by the governor and work for minimal pay.”
Loewer went on to quote several people when describing the rice industry’s survival through the good times and the bad.
“Charles Darwin once said that it is not the strongest or most intelligent species that survives, but the one that adapts the most to change,” he said. “I think that describes us pretty well.”
Next up was Louisiana’s Commissioner of Agriculture Dr. Mike Strain. Strain mentioned several statistics and facts that are undeniable to the importance of agriculture in our state.
“The rice industry brought in $450 million to our state last year,” he said. “Agriculture is the lifeblood of Louisiana and we have 237,000 people in our state who are in the agriculture industry.”
“We have to make sure this AgCenter stays funded properly,” Strain continued. “I encourage each of you to talk to your legislators and emphasize the importance of agriculture to our state’s economy.”
U.S. Representative Charles Boustany was up next.
“I am proud to be here on the 100th anniversary of this station,” he said. “This is an institution I’ve supported since I’ve been in Congress. By working with the House Ways and Means committee I can foresee several positive things happening in our industry. Foremost is the ease on trade with Cuba and I believe that we will see to see several other open markets arise which will help our industry.”
“Now we were dealt a setback last week,” Boustany continued referring to the energy bill which was passed. “I vigorously opposed this bill. We need to diversify our energy sources to bring the fuel costs down - not just tax our consumers.”
Perhaps the most poignant moment of the ceremony was when John Denison came up to recognize the former directors of the Rice Service Station: Rouse Caffery, Duke Faulker, and Joe Musick.
“It’s unfortunate that only one of the three people I’m here to recognize could be present,” said Denison, referring to Musick. “Rouse was recently in a car accident and we send him and his family our prayers. Duke is currently suffering from a respiratory ailment but he has been watching us today on a video stream through the internet.”
“He said to tell us that we were doing an outstanding job and there were some ideas he saw that were foreign to him,” said Denison. “I think that may have been the first time Duke has ever admitted to not being knowledgeable about something.”
The audience erupted in laughter.
Governor Bobby Jindal was supposed to address the audience but was replaced by Senator Dan “Blade” Morrish.
“We would have liked to have had Governor Jindal here but Blade is a good replacement,” said Linscombe. “He may be better because he might be a better friend to those of us in agriculture.”
“Oh, the pressure,” said Morrish to the laughter of those in attendance.
“When Dr. Linscombe talked to me about speaking today I took some time to think about who we are,” he said. “I’m a history buff so going back 100 years, I was wondering if anyone knew who the president was in 1909?”
“Neither did I,” he responded when he got not response. “It was William Howard Taft who is also known for being our most obese president.”
“I like to think that he ate a lot of rice and gravy,” he said as the audience laughed.
Morrish went on to discuss the many historic events that have happened since 1909 from WWI to the present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also mentioned several catastrophic natural disasters (including Hurricanes Betsy, Audrey, Rita, Katrina, Gustav, and Ike) that have directly affected Louisiana.
“Do you know what the one constant has been?” he asked. “Every one of those years Louisiana has put out a rice crop.”
“Some years we made a good profit and some years were tough - it’s been the tenacity of our farmers that has kept this facility going.”