Rice strain could compete with import

A Southwest Louisiana farmer has found his niche by growing aromatic rice, and he’s eager for the release of a new LSU AgCenter variety to compete with rice imported from Thailand.
Jimmy Hoppe runs a cottage industry out of a small one-room tin building where he weighs and packages his product by hand. And he’s excited about LA2125, a line of rice being developed at the LSU AgCenter’s Rice Research Station by Dr. Xueyan Sha.
Hoppe has grown a few acres of the rice, and he likes it. It could be released as a commercial variety as early as 2009.
Hoppe said he grew a small amount of LA2125 last year and liked the results.
“It had good yield, and the quality is so much better,” he said. “I definitely think it has potential.”
Hoppe plans to grow it again this year.
This limited production and the response of his customers to the line will provide additional information to Rice Research Station breeders to help them make a decision on the eventual release of the line.
Hoppe has been growing the variety Jasmine 85 for almost 18 years to compete with Thai Jasmine. It has been a good variety but with several problems. It is susceptible to the tendency to fall over, which means fertilizer can’t be applied all at once. Jasmine 85 also has a fuzzy, thick hull, which results in overall lower grain weight upon milling.
But so far, LA2125 is a nice, full grain, comparable to other long-grain varieties, he said.
“It’s going to make a big difference in profit to the producer,” he added.
The farmer said millers are eager to get LA2125 as soon as it’s released by the LSU AgCenter as a variety.
“There are opportunities that will just be magnified as we move forward,” he said.
Thai Jasmine makes up the biggest portion of the 350,000-400,000 metric tons of rice imported into the United States, according to Sha.
He said actual Thai Jasmine cannot be grown in this country because it requires a short day length that only occurs in the United States starting in October, which is too late in the year to grow rice.