FOOD NEWS
This U.S. State Produces The Most Rice
By Nico Danilovich
The United States is the fifth biggest rice exporter in the international market, and it ships out nearly half of its crop each year. Yet, just a small handful of regions produce the bulk of U.S. rice supplies, with one southern state growing almost half of all U.S. rice.
The leading U.S. rice producer is Arkansas, which produced over 90 million hundredweight of rice in 2021. As noted by the Arkansas Farm Bureau, the Natural State generates about 2/5 of all U.S. rice, and it’s the state’s top agricultural export and its second most valuable commodity.
According to the Arkansas Farm Bureau, rice came to Arkansas in the late 19th century when an Arkansas man named W.H. Fuller traveled to Louisiana, saw their rice farms, and decided to try growing the crop back home. Fuller had the right idea, because Arkansas’ climate and the dense clay of the Grand Prairie made it ideal for rice paddies.