- The 86th International Rice Festival celebrates the importance of rice farming and hopes to inspire the next generation.
- It is one of Louisiana's oldest and largest agricultural festivals.
- Crowley is know as the "Rice Capital of the World", because it has milled more rice than any other city in the country.
It's a time filled with live bands, carnival rides and of course, festival food. It's also a time to remember the struggles that rice farmers faced this year with the drought and high temperatures effecting rice crops and the industry.
KATC spoke with one family who has been rice farming for 6 generations and hopes to pass on the love of rice and stress the importance of it for the future generations to come.
"You have to keep feeding America, if we don't we ain't gonna be here," says 12-year-old rice farmer Katherine Richard.
"We farm about 5600 acres of soy beans, rice and crawfish, in a rotation. That's good for the crop and the environment, so we keep all that in mind trying to be as sustainable as possible because the next generation is coming down the line," expresses Julie Baker-Richard.
The festival will be held all weekend long. To see a full list of events, click here.
