Rice farmers have been gathering at the LSU AgCenter's Rice Research Station in Crowley, La., for 107 years to learn the latest about new varieties and other technologies that can help them produce a crop more efficiently.

This year's field day attracted growers and industry representatives not only from south Louisiana but from other exotic places such as Houston, Arlington, Va., Cornell University in New York, Puerto Rico, the Czech Republic and Thailand.

They were welcomed by Steve Linscombe, LSU AgCenter rice breeder, resident director of the H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Center in Crowley, and director of the AgCenter's Southwest Region, which is headquartered at the Rice Research Station. Dr. Linscombe has been to a number of exotic places, looking for new rice germplasm that could help provide growers with higher-yielding and higher-quality rice varieties.