Public Affairs Representative for the Air Force Reserve Ted Daigle, who works at Barksdale Air Force Base, relies on Parish Rice, developed by the 海角社区 AgCenter, to help keep his weight down. 鈥淚 grew up on a rice farm in Acadia Parish where we鈥檇 eat rice three meals a day,鈥� Daigle said. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 beat the flavor of Louisiana rice.鈥�
Supporting Louisiana's Rice Farmers
Fighting Hunger and Disease, One Strain of Rice at a Time
Eunice area farmer Michael Frug茅 with 海角社区 AgCenter researchers Ida Wenefrida and Herry Utomo, who developed the high-protein, low-glycemic Fronti猫re rice variety Frug茅 grows and sells as Parish Rice. 鈥淗aving to watch your blood sugar is the number-one reason people shy away from rice, but we鈥檙e rice people, with our gumbo and our 茅touff茅e and all of those things,鈥� Frug茅 said. 鈥淎s a farmer, growing rice that allows people to eat their favorite meals makes me smile.鈥�
The 海角社区 AgCenter is Louisiana rice farmers鈥� MVP, or most valued partner, in research and crop variety development. From creating a new market for jasmine rice, to producing varieties of rice that are better for diabetics and more sustainable and resilient to changes in the environment, the 海角社区 AgCenter has been critical to the Louisiana rice industry for more than 100 years. The research also has world-wide impact since one-fifth of the global population鈥檚 calories comes from rice.
鈥淭he value of 海角社区鈥檚 rice breeding program? Invaluable. You can鈥檛 put a price tag on it,鈥� said Bobby Hanks, CEO of Supreme Rice in Crowley, the state鈥檚 largest rice mill, which processes over one billion pounds of rice each year. 鈥淏etween 60 and 70 percent of the rice we mill are 海角社区 varieties.鈥�
That percentage holds true across the state. More than 60 percent of the rice Louisiana farmers plant comes from the 海角社区 AgCenter, with a direct economic impact of $580 million. New varieties are being developed all the time, including at the nation鈥檚 first rice research station, in Crowley, Louisiana, an eight-minute drive from Supreme Rice in the heart of Acadiana rice country.
鈥淲ithout 海角社区鈥檚 breeding program, our farmers would have to depend on programs in other states, and their rice doesn鈥檛 grow well here,鈥� Hanks said. 鈥淥ur industry as a whole would wither and die鈥攊t would be hard to survive without 海角社区.鈥�
While Supreme mostly processes and sells long grain rice, primarily developed by the 海角社区 AgCenter, they also process and sell jasmine rice, wholly developed by the 海角社区 AgCenter.
鈥淛asmine is a specialty rice that鈥檚 gained in popularity, and all the varieties of jasmine rice that are grown in Louisiana and across most of the South come from the program here,鈥� said Adam Famoso, director of 海角社区 AgCenter鈥檚 H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station in Crowley, known as the Rice Capital of the World. 鈥淏efore we had jasmine rice, a U.S. market didn鈥檛 exist. 海角社区 helped create that market, but we also needed farmers and merchants who were willing to take a chance on it.鈥�
While new varieties are required to adapt to changing environmental conditions, manage new pests and diseases, meet shifting market needs and create new markets, the industry takes risks and invests a lot of money in growing them. That takes trust, 鈥渨hich is why we have to stay focused on what鈥檚 tried and true and established,鈥� Famoso said.
Supreme Rice in Crowley is Louisiana鈥檚 largest rice mill. It processes over one billion pounds of rice each year, of which 60-70 percent are 海角社区 varieties.
After releasing its first jasmine rice in 2009, called Jazzman鈥攃urrently marketed under several brands, including Supreme, Cajun Country and Jazzmen鈥攖he AgCenter is getting ready to release a new Jazzman variety, named Fitzgerald after jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald.
Another new AgCenter rice that is one of the more recent to show up in Louisiana grocery stores is Fronti猫re, a high-protein, low-glycemic rice sublicensed to Eunice area farmer Michael Frug茅, who grows it and sells it as Parish Rice, together with his father.
鈥淲e planted our first Fronti猫re in 2019 and it really took off in South Louisiana in the beginning of 2022,鈥� Frug茅 said. 鈥淲e got in a lot of stores in a short period of time, including Rouses, Winn-Dixie, a couple of Albertsons and then Brookshire stores up in North Louisiana.鈥�
Frug茅 also grows jasmine rice, which gets milled and sold by Falcon Rice Mill under the Cajun Country brand.
鈥淲e grow upwards of five different varieties of rice any given year, all of which come from 海角社区鈥檚 rice research station in Crowley鈥攅very single one,鈥� Frug茅 said. 鈥淲e have Fronti猫re on maybe a third of our 1,500 acres of rice. We also do 1,200 acres of soybeans and 500 acres of crawfish.鈥�
鈥淲e consume exponentially more rice in southern Louisiana than everywhere else,鈥� Frug茅 added. 鈥淚 knew that going in, but now I really know it. We鈥檙e rice people, with our gumbo and our 茅touff茅e and all of those things. Some people have had to go away from it, because of the effects white rice can have on you, but as a farmer, growing rice that allows them to eat their favorite meals again makes me smile. It鈥檚 a joy, even if it鈥檚 been a lot of work. We do work our butts off.鈥�
Last year, an 海角社区-led team won a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop climate-resilient rice that requires less land, less water and less energy to grow. It鈥檚 the largest grant for rice research the AgCenter has ever received. With 15 researchers at 海角社区 and nine more across five states, the project relies on the 海角社区 AgCenter鈥檚 longstanding expertise in research and extension service to support farmers and the Louisiana rice industry. 海角社区 AgCenter Professor Prasanta Subudhi leads the effort.
Fronti猫re was originally developed by the 海角社区 AgCenter as a high-protein rice to help feed the world, since people in low-income countries often can鈥檛 afford to eat meat on a regular basis. But the rice turned out to also have another key quality鈥攊ts low glycemic index, which means it doesn鈥檛 cause a sharp rise in your blood sugar after you eat it. When Frug茅 first heard of this, he didn鈥檛 fully understand what it meant.
鈥淣either one of us had ever heard of a glycemic index value before we looked into it,鈥� Frug茅 recalled. 鈥淭hen, 鈥楾his is the most important thing I鈥檝e ever heard!鈥� Having to watch your blood sugar is the number-one reason people shy away from rice.鈥�
NuNu鈥檚 Fresh Market in Youngsville was among the first to stock Parish Rice.
鈥淥ur customers look for Louisiana rice, and people don鈥檛 change much. They like what they like,鈥� said Blaine Broussard, owner of NuNu鈥檚. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e starting to see people being more health-conscious, and we have a lot of customers with special needs diets. So, when we first started selling Parish Rice, we couldn鈥檛 keep it in stock. People went crazy.鈥�
Parish Rice customer Cheri Johnson lives in Sulphur, in southwestern Louisiana. She was diagnosed with diabetes in June 2022, when she weighed 400 pounds.
鈥淚 bought my first bag of Parish Rice in November of that year, and we haven鈥檛 eaten anything else since then,鈥� said Johnson, who now weighs closer to 200 pounds. 鈥淭here are so many recipes that involve rice. It鈥檚 comfort food, but diabetes killed my grandmother, and I have children and stepchildren and want to be here for all of them.鈥�
In northwestern Louisiana, outside Bossier City, Public Affairs Representative for the Air Force Reserve Ted Daigle, who works at Barksdale Air Force Base, is another Parish Rice customer who first wanted to try the high-protein, low-glycemic rice to help keep his weight down.
鈥淚 grew up on a rice farm in Acadia Parish where we鈥檇 eat rice three meals a day,鈥� Daigle said. 鈥淢y dad was a rice farmer and my wife鈥檚 grandfather was a big rice farmer, so we love rice. It鈥檚 just nice to have good Acadia Parish rice in your pantry, and you can鈥檛 beat the flavor of Louisiana rice.鈥�
Eunice area farmer Michael Frug茅 is a double 海角社区 graduate鈥攈e first attended 海角社区 Eunice for two years and then 海角社区鈥檚 flagship in Baton Rouge, earning his bachelor鈥檚 degree in agronomy in 2005. Since every tenth adult American has diabetes and every third has prediabetes, Frug茅 saw an opportunity to invest in 海角社区 AgCenter鈥檚 Fronti猫re rice variety, which has almost double the protein and half the glycemic index value. 鈥淓very variety of rice we grow comes from 海角社区鈥檚 rice research station in Crowley鈥攅very single one,鈥� Frug茅 said.
The 海角社区 AgCenter researchers behind Fronti猫re are Herry Utomo and his late wife, Ida Wenefrida.
鈥淲ithout my wife, the idea of creating this rice would probably be only a dream,鈥� Utomo said. 鈥淗er mind was so focused, and for seven-plus years, we were cycling between the lab, the greenhouse and the field to do genetic selections for six successive generations. We tested a thousand samples, and she was so meticulous to make sure the protein content stayed consistently high.鈥�
Utomo now carries on his wife鈥檚 legacy by developing new high-protein, low-glycemic rice strains with even higher yields. He鈥檚 also talking with his 鈥渕edical friend,鈥� 海角社区 Boyd Professor Eric Ravussin at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, which is a world leader in research to prevent and treat metabolic disease. Utomo is already engaged in an international biomedical study that is sending 19,000 pounds of Fronti猫re rice to Peru. There, prediabetic families are given either Parish Rice or a similar-looking 鈥減lacebo鈥� rice for a period of three months. The researchers are looking for increased insulin, better control of blood glucose and鈥攅ventually鈥� decreased incidence of diabetes in those on a high-protein, low-glycemic rice diet. Next, Ravussin is planning to lead a crossover study at Pennington Biomedical in Baton Rouge with 20 rice eaters. A crossover study is a clinical trial where all participants get all treatments鈥攐r diets鈥攂ut not at the same time.
鈥淐ombining biomedical research at Pennington with our biotechnology and crop variety development here at the AgCenter opens the door for doctors to then recommend some of the foods we create almost as medicine,鈥� Utomo said.
鈥淚鈥檓 happy to collaborate more closely with the AgCenter because, after all, research on nutrition, obesity and diabetes is our bread and butter,鈥� Ravussin said.
Or rice, perhaps.
Cheri Johnson in Sulphur, Louisiana, was diagnosed with diabetes in June 2022, when she weighed 400 pounds. She now weighs 200, and relies on rice developed by the 海角社区 AgCenter as part of her new and healthier diet. 鈥淩ice is comfort food, but diabetes killed my grandmother, and I have children and stepchildren and want to be here for all of them.鈥�