Report: Rice makes gains in environmental sustainability

Field to Market: The Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture released The Field to Market 2012 Environmental and Socioeconomic Indicators Report, which analyzes sustainability trends on a national scale for U.S. corn, cotton, potato, rice, soybean, and wheat production from 1980 through 2011. The report details important advancements for all commodities on a variety of environmental, social and economic indicators.

The results for rice demonstrate significant progress in all measures of resource efficiency, (per hundredweight of rice produced) with decreases in land use land use (35 percent) soil erosion (34 percent), irrigation water applied (53 percent), energy use (38 percent), and greenhouse gas emissions (38 percent). 

“The findings from this report demonstrate that rice producers have made progress in producing more rice with fewer resources,” said Newport, AR, rice farmer Jennifer James, chairman, USA Rice Federation Sustainability Task Force. “As an industry, we are committed to increasing rice production and yield to meet growing food demand, while at the same time, preserving natural resources. This study highlights the progress that has been made and serves as the basis for expanding upon our knowledge of practices that can contribute to future resource efficiency gains,” James added.

USA Rice Federation is a member of Field to Market: The Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, a diverse alliance working to create opportunities across the agricultural supply chain for continuous improvements in productivity, environmental quality, and human well-being. In addition, through its Sustainability Task Force, USA Rice continually works with various industry sectors to reduce the carbon footprint for rice and detail the contribution rice farms make to wildlife habitat and biodiversity.             

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