Seed to Plate

National Rice Month doesn’t just offer rice producers an opportunity to celebrate—it gives them the chance to enjoy the cooked and served finished products, too! There was something for everyone in Merigold on the third Thursday of September at the annual rice celebration in Bolivar County: Rice Fest.

Delta Rice Promotions has sponsored the event for 33 years, and the 2023 Rice Fest didn’t disappoint. The Mississippi State University Extension Service and Mississippi Farm Bureau were partners in putting on the event, and hundreds attended and tasted a delicious menu of rice dishes from local restaurants. Rice is Mississippi’s only row-crop commodity to be grown, milled, harvested, packaged, and sold in Mississippi.