Faculty also work cooperatively with rice breeders to develop varieties with more valuable quality characteristics. Other major rice uses under investigation have included soups, precooked meals, breakfast cereals, baby foods, and animal rations. Rice hulls have a variety of uses as a pressing agent in the fruit juice industry, in the manufacturing of synthetic rubber and rayon, as poultry litter and as fuel for rice parboiling. Rice kernels that break during milling, called brewers rice, are used in the recipe for popular brands of beer. The College maintains the L.C. Carter Chair for Rice and Soybean Marketing and Policy.
Economists specialize in international trade, development, policy and economics.
Faculty have developed a global rice model for projecting rice production and have evaluated specific rice programs in countries throughout the world, including Asia, Latin America, the Mideast, and Pacific regions. The Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service help farmers at home and abroad to meet the challenges of growing rice. Some objectives include improving yield and quality, reducing costs, and assuring that production practices are cost effective, sustainable and safe for farm workers, consumers, and the environment. Improved methods developed through research are then delivered to farmers by extension, education, and other media. The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station conducts research programs at seven locations in the state, including the world-renowned Rice Research and Extension Center in Stuttgart.