About ARGA

The Arkansas Rice Growers Association was organized to develop and implement policy for the rice industry that is in the growers' best interests. It is our mission to represent the interests of rice growers to federal, state, and local government and their various agencies, to other interest groups, and to the community. We are here to serve the specific needs of individual members.

Rice is one of man's most important foods. It is the main source of nutrition for more than three-quarters of the world population. In fact, the word for rice is a synonym for "food" or "agriculture" in some countries.

In 1904 William H. Fuller, a farmer near Ulm, planted a 70-acre farm of rice. This began what would become a new agricultural boon to the state: the first commercial crop of rice.

Arkansas, the largest rice-producing state in the nation, harvested 240 million bushels of the 511 million bushels produced nationwide in 2004. Rice continues to grow in popularity with annual per-capital consumption by U.S. consumers of more than 27 pounds.