Ralston Rice in Demand Arkansas Family Farm Expands Into Chinese Markets While Robin and Tim Ralston were thrilled when their two adult daughters wanted to change careers in 2017 and join their parents and brother at the farm, they knew changes would be necessary for the operation to support additional partners. Those changes led to the development of a vertically integrated, farm to fork, agricultural operation that provided the first rice from Arkansas to be exported to China in July 2021. The Ralston family has been farming for over ten generations, with the latest generation overseeing a diversified operation producing cattle, soybeans, and rice on 5,800 acres in the Arkansas River Valley near Atkins. Robin and Tim had been discussing the need for a value-added component for the farm, possibly a rice mill, for several years, but their daughters’ decisions to return to the farm accelerated their efforts. The Ralstons pitched their idea of growing and milling specialty rice on the farm to the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and Ben E. Keith Company to help determine feasibility. After receiving a favorable response, they began working with Dr. Anna McClung, Director and Research Leader of the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center within the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, to gain insight on artisanal rice varieties. After much research, trial and error, construction of a state-of-the-art mill, mountains of paperwork, countless meetings, and a lot of prayers, Ralston Family Farms launched its unique offerings of specialty rice varieties in January of 2018. Robin Ralston said, “Had we known at the beginning exactly what was involved, I’m not sure we would have done it, but now that we are here, we are grateful to all that made it possible. We are humbled to be stewards of what we believe to be among the very best rice available while utilizing farming practices that protect our land, water, and fossil fuels.” Ralston Family Farms is vertically integrated, meaning they control their product from the seed placed in the ground to the package that is placed on the shelf. Because Ralston Family Farms only mills and packages rice they grow, they can offer customers 100 percent traceability, which sets them apart. This traceability is one of the primary reasons a private importer in China contacted them about selling the product in grocery stores in China.
ARKANSAS GROWN 100
