Bay City Tribune

Robby Reed and the Lower Colorado River Authority were the honored guests at the annual Rice Producers Luncheon hosted by the Bay City Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture Thursday, Oct. 15.

Reed was named Outstanding Rice Farmer of the Year while LCRA was chosen as the Outstanding Agribusiness of the Year.

Brent Batchelor, Texas Agrilife Extension agent for Matagorda County, also gave the annual rice crop production update.

Stephen Zapalac, Chamber agriculture and aquaculture committee chairman, introduced Reed, 32, as a farmer who has "agriculture running through his veins."

His farming career began at the ripe old age of five years old, said Zapalac.

"He began running the tractor and auger-cart during harvest, even though he had to slide down the seat to reach the pedals," Zapalac said.

Reed worked on the family farm and raised animal projects for the county fair through high school.

He is a graduate of Bay City High School and also received a degree in business administration from Lindenwood University in Missouri in 2000.

While at Lindenwood he played football on scholarship and was named all-conference team three out of four years and was named to the all star team his senior year.

After graduation he tried his hand at sales and returned to work on the family farm before finding 125 acres to plant his first rice crop.

"He continued to lease more land as it became available and now farms more than 1,500 acres consisting of corn, milo, cotton, soybeans and rice," said Zapalac.

Reed married his wife Stephanie in 2004 and they have a 16-month-old son.

He serves on the Matagorda County Farm Bureau board of directors and is currently chairman of the Texas Farm Bureau advisory committee.

He is also a volunteer for the Matagorda County Fair and Livestock Show and an active member of Ducks Unlimited.

Mitch Thames, Chamber president, introduced LCRA as the agribusiness of the year.

The LCRA is a conservation reclamation district created by the Texas Legislature in 1934.

It has no taxing authority and operates solely on utility revenues and fees generated from supplying energy, water and community services.

LCRA supplies low-cost electricity for Central Texas, manages water supplies and floods in the lower Colorado River basin, develops water and wastewater utilities, provides public parks and supports community and economic development in 58 Texas counties.

About 350 customers are provided water for agricultural irrigation through nine major pumping plants that supply water through 1,100 miles of irrigation canals in Matagorda, Wharton and Colorado counties.

LCRA purchased the Gulf Coast Irrigation Company in Matagorda County in 1960.

Now, LCRA Gulf Coast Irrigation provides water to the agriculture and industrial community and employs 15 people.

Batchelor said he looks forward to the Rice Producer Luncheon every year because it is a chance to celebrate the rich history of agriculture and especially rice production in the county.

"I just thought I'd take an acre of rice and try to show a picture of what the value of that is in the different areas of production from the farmer to the community to the environment and other areas," he said.

According to Batchelor, rice has the greatest local impact of any crop.

Unlike other agriculture endeavors, rice production from field to shelf is largely done locally including: local seed, local storage and regional milling.

Rice farming has great value to the community, he said.

The Texas Agrilife Extension Service economist estimated the economic contribution of rice production and milling in Matagorda, Wharton and Colorado Counties.

The 2009 crop provided jobs for 3,246 employees.

"Rice supports a local infrastructure," he said.

"Because it is such a localized crop, the storing the drying is done almost exclusively in the local area," he said.

The economist estimated the 2009 crop put $449.2 million dollars and contributed $120.7 million to the Gross Regional Product within the three-county economy.

He explained that it takes about $1,000 per acre and about 1,466,330 gallons of water to produce first and second crop rice.

"What comes out of that acre of rice," he asked.

"Well, the rice, of course. Hopefully we have enough to harvest and have a rice yield."

Batchelor said you can usually count on yielding about 8,000-pounds of rice in the first croup and an average of 1,600-pounds for the second crop.

Water is another resource that you get out of one acre of rice.

"A good percentage of water that was used to grow that crop is released back into the environment," he said.

The value of one acre of rice to the farmer is that it provides an income as a less risky crop.

"It allows those producers to spread the risk over more crops and lessens the risk because of irrigation," said Batchelor.

Rice farming also allows farmers to have alternate enterprises, said Batchelor.

"Because of the rice rotation it allows the producer to take advantage of that land usually on the two years that they're not farming rice on it," he said.

"It helps us be able to have whole other enterprises, especially beef cattle, that we would not be able to have if we were putting it into production every year."

Producing one acre of rice also provides a short-term wetland for wildlife habitat and serves as a natural filter for the irrigation water.

"The culture of rice helps filter the water and filter some of the impurities out of that water before it is released into the environment," he said.

Batchelor finished his presentation by encouraging the farmers and community members present to stay engaged in the things that are happening in the county, state and nation.