RICE RESEARCH CENTER DEDICATED FRIDAY

GLENNONVILLE, Mo. A new rice research center, one of only two in the nation, will be dedicated near here this week.

Charles E. Kruse, Missouri Department of Agriculture director, will be keynote speaker during the grand opening ceremony, scheduled to get under way at 9 a.m. Friday.

The new research farm opened this year in the Bootheel area, near the Glennonville community, located between Malden and Qulin. It is located a mile south and two miles east of Glennonville, on the north side of Highway J.

The grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony, was originally scheduled during the afternoon.

"It was changed to 9 a.m. to avoid the heat of the afternoon," said Michael T. Aide, chairman of the Southeast Missouri State University Department of Agriculture.

The Cape Girardeau-based university, University of Missouri College of agriculture and the Delta Center at Portageville, will be working with the Rice Research Experimental Station, to help carry out demonstrations and research that will help rice producers in Missouri and northern Arkansas become more efficient and effective in rice production.

Other officials who have will be present for the Friday dedication include Roger Mitchell, dean of the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Agriculture; and J.O. Snowden, dean of College of Science and Technology at Southeast Missouri State University; Jake Fischer, Delta Center superintendent; Tom Yonke, of UM-C.

"This is only the second farmer-owned rice research farm in the U.S.," said Barry Sims, of the Delta Center recently. "The other center is located in California, the second largest rice-producing state."

The center is funded by checkoff dollars paid by the state's rice producers.

"The research plot is a valuable asset to farmers," said Sims. "Through this grower-supported research, rice breeders develop new rice varieties, enhancing the quality and quantity of rice."

Rice has become an important crop in Missouri.

More than eight million bushels were produced in Southeast Missouri in 1990, with a value exceeding $27 million.

Rice producers in six Southeast Missouri counties Butler, Stoddard, Ripley, New Madrid, Dunklin and Pemiscot had more than 80,000 acres in production in 1990.

Officials credit the increasing consumption of rice by Americans, the good export possibilities, and a rice plant at New Madrid the Lewis Dreyfus Corp. for the increase of rice production in the southeast Missouri area.

Missouri is the sixth largest rice-growing state in the U.S., with about 90 percent of the grain grown in Stoddard and Butler counties. A total of 400 Missouri farmers grow rice.

Rice production has doubled in the United States during the past decade, and all indicators are pointing to increased gains into the 1990s and beyond.

More than 24 rice varieties have been developed since the 1940s. Most of the U.S. rice is grown in the south-central gulf area. Arkansas is the number one rice producing state. Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi are big rice producing states.

Consumption of a rice has doubled in the past decade. A recent survey, but the U.S. Rice Council indicates that 72 percent of restaurants and institutions served rice every day. And, rice exports during the past marketing year reached 2.8 million metric tons, the second highest on record for the U.S.