Ode to Rice.

It is a staple that graces the tables of young and old, wealthy and thrifty, across every demographic. Its place in our culinary history goes back two centuries, and today it puts us on the global map. It is the world's most popular grain, and we are blessed to have so many cultivated acres of it every year.

It is rice.

Oryza sativa has been cultivated for more than six thousand years, and has spread from Asia to Europe and Africa. It made its first appearance in North America, in South Carolina at the turn of the 18th Century. The crop was first recorded seen at Arkansas Post by the great naturalist and field researcher Thomas Nuttall, just over 200 years ago. Farmers in the area gave rice a shot, but without adequate irrigation and the technology to both flood and completely drain the fields, it didn't much catch on at that time.

W.H. Fuller is recorded as having made that first attempt at growing a crop on the Grand Prairie in 1897. A dry well cost him the effort, but the idea had been planted. In 1901, John and Emma Morris would dig an irrigation well, seed a plot and tend it, and harvest five acres. Though John died the next spring, Emma Morris and her two sons would continue with the 1902 crop and 20 acres of planted land, establishing the viability of rice in our state. The fourth and fifth generation of the Morris Family still operates the farm, Arkansas's oldest rice farm near Carlisle today.

1902 was also the year Bill Hope decided to try out a plot of his own, right in Stuttgart. He had trouble keeping the hands of the curious out of his acreage - everyone wanted to try this new staple in their own home. But he still managed to harvest 139 bushels an acre from it.

Agriculture soon boomed around this grain. The Stuttgart Rice Company completed its first mill in 1907. The Arkansas Rice Growers Cooperative would band together in 1921, eventually growing to 9000 member farms across five states, and becoming the world's largest miller and marketer of rice. Today we know it as Riceland Foods.

Each year Arkansas plants more than one million acres of rice, averaging nearly 165 bushels that's about 74-hundred pounds for every acre. It's grown in 40 of our 75 counties - all across the Delta, and along the Arkansas River Valley as well. Our state produces more rice than any and all of the other states in the union, combined.

Those of us who have always called Arkansas home, have found it so very often on our tables. As a child I fondly remember bowls of buttered and sugared rice for breakfast. As an adult, I still find it alongside plate lunches served with an ample portion of brown gravy. Rice pudding is a common, friendly dessert known well amongst our population. Its presence in casseroles and goulash and soups and yes, even salads is felt and devoured. Generations have documented its many uses in church cookbooks and served it at our various events. 

Few restaurants lack the ingredient. It can be found in a tempura batter, under a curry, packed in a spring roll or simmered with spices and vegetables. Its versatility has made it a wonder of the new food movement, and its availability as a milk, cheese, cracker, and even bread -- has become popular for those who cannot consume dairy or digest wheat gluten. Our catfish is often fried these days in rice oil, and rice bran is cited for its health benefits.

Innovation continues, from farm to fork, with enterprises leaning into new varietals past the long grain and extra long grain versions long associated with our production. Ralston Farms of Atkins harvests purple, red, brown and golden rices and brings them to a market eager to add this spectrum to the table. Della Specialty Rice of Brinkley offers arborio, basmati, jasmine and wild rices, many flavored in mixes with garlic, onion, sesame and ginger. 

Whichever way you try it, rice is one of those staples that's integral to the diet of Arkansas folks. Sure glad it grows here so well,