MEMO: NEW RICE FACILITY SOUGHT IN BLYTHEVILLE

A northeast Arkansas businessman is looking into establishing a rice storage and drying facility at Blytheville, Ark.

Lewis Lammers of Dell, Ark., says he is in negotiations with a number of rice processing companies concerning a new facility.

Lammers said there is grown need in the area for rice-drying and processing plants.

"Rice farmers are driving form 60 to 100 miles trying to find a place to dry rice," said Lammers, who recently purchased the soybean and office facility at Blytheville, form Farmers' Soybean Cooperative.

In 2000, 31,000 acres of rice was planted in Arkansas' Mississippi County. In 2001, the extension service estimated that more than 35,000 acres of rice will be planted.

"There is a need for a new rice processing center," said Keith Martin, of the Mississippi County Cooperative Extension Service.