State Representative Paul Jacobs accepted the invitation from Ducks Unlimited to learn more about rice production and milling in Illinois. Jacobs and State Senator Terri Bryant participated in the second Illinois Rice Farm Field Tour last week to learn about the rice grown in southern Illinois which is the northernmost rice grown in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.

The tour was hosted by Blake Gerard and fellow Illinois rice farmers, father and son, Joe and Sam Schneider. They discussed how they each started in the rice industry due to the abundance of water in their area. Blake Gerard's Cahokia Rice Farm in Alexander County is where Blake Gerard is a fourth-generation farmer who also grows soybeans. The farm is known for growing high-protein rice using regenerative and biodynamic practices, which is notable because rice is typically considered a southern crop, but it thrives along the flood-prone riverbanks there.

Read more of the USA Rice story HERE.