Mississippi Farmers Can't Find Buyers for Rice

Rice farmers in the Mississippi Delta are staring at mountains of unsold grain and considering whether to let some of it rot. In Merigold, first-generation farmer Jack Westerfield, 37, is sitting on 2.2 million pounds of rice with no buyers. Prices for nearly every major crop have fallen below production costs, but rice has been hit especially hard: Futures are down about 30% over the past year, after India loosened export limits and foreign customers shifted to other varieties. At a recent Mississippi Farm Bureau meeting, producers even discussed asking the federal government to pay them to destroy stored rice, echoing surplus programs from the 1980s farm crisis, the New York Times reports. At his farm, Westerfield asked, "What am I supposed to do with 2.2 million pounds of rice?"

The Mississippi Delta's rich soil hasn't spared it from today's economics. High labor costs, heavy irrigation needs, and tight planting and harvest windows push expenses up, while the value of the state's row crops dropped 9% from 2024 to 2025. Farmers like Westerfield, who expanded rice acreage when prices looked strong, are now jammed: His full bins of unsold rice left no storage for soybeans and corn, forcing him to sell those immediately and miss a later price bump. Longtime growers are feeling it, too. Clarksdale farmer Wayne Dulaney, whose family has worked the land for generations, has roughly 9 million pounds of rice in storage and estimates a $600,000 loss last year—part of what he says is a four-year stretch of tight conditions.

Federal aid is offering only partial relief. Mississippi farmers stand to benefit from the Trump administration's $12 billion farm bailout, with rice and cotton getting some of the highest payment rates. But at $132 per acre for rice against production costs near $1,000 per acre, even local land broker Gwin Smith says the assistance is far from enough and reports more farmers are quitting or thinking about it. Rice farmers are receiving the largest payments, per Reuters. Cotton farmers are looking at $117 an acre and soybean farmers $30.

Some advocates argue the Delta should pivot from bulk commodities to crops in greater demand in the US, like fruits and vegetables, that can command higher prices. The World Wildlife Fund estimates converting just 3% of the region's row-crop acres could generate billions in additional revenue, per the Times. But without research support, crop insurance, processing facilities or ready buyers, many growers see that as too risky. For now, farmers including Westerfield and Dulaney are trying to hang on, effectively writing off 2026 and counting on conditions looking different by 2027 or 2028.