Rice dryer expansion: rice processor adds two dryers, more storage in Arkansas

摘要

Back in the 1920s, according to John Lorick, plant manager for Producers Rice Mill Inc. in DeWitt, AR (870-946-4636), a wooden rice mill that stood on the company's property was the largest in the United States. Rice hasn't been milled at DeWitt since the 1980s, when Producers Rice Mill purchased the facility from Pillsbury. This year, the wooden mill finally was torn down to make room to expand the grain elevator (called a "rice dryer" in the Delta country) that still operates there. The DeWitt dryer feeds rice to the company's headquarters rice mill in Stuttgart, AR. Producers Rice Mill has spent over 2.7 million dollar on the DeWitt facility over the past two years, replacing two old dryers with new Shanzer dryers in 2002 and adding 500,000 bushels worth of rice storage this year. All of this is in response to soaring long-grain rice yields in Arkansas County, says Dion Etter, the company's in-house construction project manager. "The new varieties yield more, and we're picking up more acres every year," he says. "Last year, producers were getting 200 bushels per acre. It's unreal."