Harvesting an empire
I’m touring the Windmill Rice Co. facility at Jonesboro and thinking how this busy operation has the pleasant smell of being inside a box of cereal.
The mill was opened in 2008 by a group of investors led by Lawrence County native David Smith, a rice farmer who wanted the type of vertical integration used by Tyson Foods Inc., which controls its operation from hatching chicks to processing meat.
At the time it was built, Windmill was the largest food-grade rice mill to be constructed in two decades in the five rice-growing Southern states— Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas.
Smith and his business partners invested $8 million in land, buildings and equipment to handle, store, mill and package rice.
Arkansas grows half the nation’s rice. The industry here is big, and it’s complex.
“One of the earliest challenges to raising rice in Arkansas was the cost of shipping the harvest to mills in Louisiana,” Steven Teske writes for the Central Arkansas Library System’s Encyclopedia of Arkansas. “The first rice mill in Arkansas opened at Stuttgart in 1907. Four more had been added by the end of 1910. World
War I dramatically increased the market for Arkansas rice, and many more rice farms were established.
“Cities such as Stuttgart, Des Arc and DeWitt grew as a result. The end of the war brought a sharp decline in prices, and farmers decided to meet the challenges of a fluctuating economy by organizing. The Arkansas Rice Growers Cooperative Association was formed in 1921. This association eventually became Riceland Foods, the world’s largest rice miller and marketer, which later expanded to market other crops, including soybeans.”
Riceland remains headquartered at Stuttgart and operates one of the world’s biggest rice mills here in Jonesboro.
Smith said at the time Windmill opened: “Riceland is a great big lemonade factory. All we have is just a lemonade stand. We just want to be different.”
Thirteen years later, Windmill remains busy. In fact, “busy” has been the name of the game on this day as I’ve toured farms, research stations and mills with Kelly Robbins, executive director of the Arkansas Rice Federation. The federation represents all aspects of the industry, including the Arkansas Rice Council, Arkansas Rice Farmers, Arkansas Rice Merchants and Arkansas Rice Millers.
The 45th annual Arkansas Rice Festival will be held Saturday at Weiner to celebrate the end of the rice harvest. The festival traditionally is held on the second Saturday of October.
“In 1976, a rice-tasting and rice-farming history exhibit was organized as part of the bicentennial commemoration,” Ina Raye Hurdle writes for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. “The success of the event inspired a group of local citizens to plan a festival. The Arkansas Rice Festival Board was formed in 1977 and incorporated as a nonprofit organization. Nine board members— including millers, farmers and financial officers—serve staggered terms. Joanna Freeman was appointed president of the festival committee, a position she held for 15 years.
“About 7,000 people attended the first festival. Ensuing years attracted up to 12,000 with some visitors from other states. In 1986, a Japanese television network filmed the festival as part of a documentary. In 2000, the two-day festival was shortened to one day. The premier event has always been the free rice-tasting meal with more than 400 rice dishes provided by area residents. Recipes for these dishes have been collected in cookbooks.”
Governors and members of Congress have been regular attendees.
“Volunteers dubbed the Rice Festival Ladies have promoted rice in conjunction with the festival, including traveling throughout the state and nation preparing rice dishes,” Hurdle writes. “The Rice Festival Ladies have served rice dishes at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C.; the commissioning of the USS Arkansas at Virginia Beach, Va.; the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tenn.; and a reception for a Chinese trade delegation.”
Speaking of Chinese trade, a shipment of rice from Ralston Family Farms in the Arkansas River Valley is the first rice from the state to be exported to China. Through a contract with a private importer, the initial shipment arrived in late July. Additional shipments are planned.
China is the world’s largest producer, consumer and importer of rice, but the country has remained closed to U.S. rice until recently. The United States and China signed a trade agreement in January 2020 that expanded the potential for access to the Chinese market.
“The Ralstons’ rice is more than a commodity, and growing rice is more than a job for the family,” says Gov. Asa Hutchinson. “Rice has been part of their lives for generations, and when they exported their first shipment to China in July, they were shipping a piece of their heart and heritage. The rice raised in Arkansas soil will enrich lives in China and perhaps shrink the distance between our nations and cultures.”
The Ralston farm is near Atkins and achieves Smith’s old goal of being vertically integrated. The Ralston family only mills and packages rice it grows. The family launched its offerings of specialty varieties in January 2018. The brand has grown to include national distribution in more than 5,000 retail outlets.
“We’re humbled to be stewards of what we believe to be among the very best rice available while utilizing farming practices that protect our land, water and fossil fuels,” says Robin Ralston.