A Conversation With Alex Clark, USRPA Chairman
MOLLIE LANDERS BUCKLER
POPLAR BLUFF, MISSOURI
Tell us a little about your family (married, kids/ages, grandkids, etc.)
My wife Kathryn is an ag teacher in Poplar Bluff. We have two kids, Luke and Max. I farm with my brother, Zane, my dad, Mitch, and my uncle, Andy. Our family has farmed in Butler County for three generations, but my family has been farming as far back as five generations down in Arkansas. They started there as cotton farmers, then my grandpa on my dad’s side moved here in 1960 and started farming cotton here as well. We started growing rice in the early 1970s.
What crops do you grow/how many acres? Rice, corn, and soybeans.
Between our two operations, about 5000 acres total.
Community Involvement (locally and/or within the agricultural community – boards, organizations, etc.): I’m mostly involved with Missouri Rice Council and the USRPA. That takes up much of my free time. I got involved with the Missouri Rice Council at age 24. My uncle was on the board for a long time, and they were looking for someone to step in. He got me interested in it at an early age through his involvement.
Growing up, did you always want to be a farmer? Did you come to farming from another career?
I looked at other careers, but it always came back to farming. Ever since my brother and I were little, at the age of 6 or 7, we were doing something on the farm. When dad and Andy were busy on the farm, they kept us busy too, as any parent on a farm would.
I went to the University of Missouri and got my Agbusiness degree but came back during the summers and any breaks I had to farm. Once I moved home and got back it just became a new venture.
Tell me about your involvement with farming rice. How long has your farm included rice, and what do you like about it compared to other commodities?
You must like rice a little bit to be able to farm it because it becomes your baby. My brother and I are with it seven days a week from the time it’s planted until it’s harvested. You’re tied to it through the irrigation and the maintenance, so because of that tie you learn to love it, and it becomes ingrained in you a little bit.
And it’s unique to our area. Other parts of Missouri don’t have the chance to grow rice like we do. Butler County is one of the largest counties in the state where it’s grown. Our neighbors also grow rice, so we connect with them on that level 6:23.
You’re the current chairman of USRPA. How do you think USRPA has benefitted farmers?
Selfishly, USRPA has helped me grow and learn more about our industry.
I learn something new every day that I didn’t know, which is a great reason to be a part of it. The rice industry is complex and unique whether it’s white rice, brown rice, long grain, or medium. All aspects of the rice market are interesting.
USRPA’s help from a domestic and international standpoint is important. With 50 percent of our crop being exported, we have to be diligent on both fronts. I think it’s important to be tied to our government issues, and USRPA helps provide a voice and a face for rice farmers at a national level. They’ve done that well. And promoting our product, too -- As rice farmers we don’t do a great job of promoting ourselves and what we do, and USRPA is able to do that for us.
Did you have a mentor / someone you looked up to and learned from as you got started farming?
Obviously, my dad and my uncle are my go-to mentors. Every day they’ve helped us get where we are, and I thank them for that.
Learning from them, we get to piggyback off all their history and what they’ve learned along the way. Not everyone has a mentor or someone they can turn to that’s going to give them an opportunity like that.
Both my brother and I, we don’t take that for granted – every day we thank them for the opportunity and the chance to call farming a way of life.
If you could teach every American one thing about farming, what would it be?
There are a lot of stereotypes when it comes to farming and what consumers think about a farm, especially these days. Most of the farms I know are family farms. They come from a close-knit community. I think there’s probably a perception out there that farming is a big corporation and that’s more often than not the case. Consumers should know we want to grow a safe product, and that we eat the products we grow.
I also think it’s important that you turn over your bag of rice on the shelf and look for US-grown rice. There’s lots of imported rice on the shelves, too, and it can be overwhelming to go to the supermarket. You see all the shelves of rice and pick the bag that looks good to you, but you can support local by just turning over the bag and looking for US-grown. You’ll be surprised by the taste difference, too.
Just for fun – tell me your favorite rice-based product and why it’s your favorite.
Red Beans & Rice with some corn bread. My uncle can make a killer red beans & rice. ∆
MOLLIE LANDERS BUCKLER: Coordinator for Delta Producer Relations, US Rice Producers Association
Alex Clark
Butler County, Missouri just south of Poplar Bluff