The Texas Rice Research Foundation was organized by rice farmers and incorporated in Texas in 1981 as a non-profit corporation. The corporation was organized for the purposes of bettering the conditions of persons engaged in the rice industry and improving the grade of their products by undertaking activities to raise funds to finance programs of research, disease and insect control, predator control, and education designed to encourage the production of rice and related crops.
Membership is open to all producers of rice and related crops, with meetings held at least annually.
The Foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees who are elected for a term of six years by members of each of the twelve districts in the rice producing areas of the state. The Foundation has funded rice and alternative crop research primarily through the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Econo Rice Program along with research by private researchers. The research has produced new varieties of rice, as well as new crop management techniques and the Foundation has been active in disseminating this information to producers. The Foundation is presently aggressively seeking support to expand and accelerate research capabilities to provide additional varieties to hopefully facilitate a reduction in the decline of rice production in Texas.