Terry Harris has been selling rice for Riceland Foods’ members for more than 30 years. During that time, he has made several trips to Cuba and other U.S. rice-consuming countries, trying to find more markets for his farmers’ product.

Eugene Young hasn’t been around quite as long as Harris, but he has quickly learned the ropes of forecasting acreage and production for the USDA National Agricultural statistics Service operation in Arkansas and, more recently, in the newly-created Delta Region.

Together, they will be the presenters for the next in the series of Food and Agribusiness webinars being conducted by the University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture. Since 2014, the University’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness has conducted more than 40 webinars on topics ranging from the 2014 farm bill to the impacts of the El Nino phenomenon.

The next webinar, which will have the dual title of “Rice Marketing with a Cuban Flavor and other potential trade opportunities with Terry Harris” and “A Look at the First Yield Forecast for the 2015 Crop Year Production with Eugene Young,” will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday (Aug. 13).

To register for the webinar and receive log-in instructions, go to https://uaex.zoom.us/webinar/register/df075b6cad16b4b47c24e00bf0acd2b8

Dr. Bobby Coats, professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, is the moderator for the webinar series. Forrest Laws, director of content for Farm Press Publications, is a resource panelist for the webinar.

Terry Harris joined Riceland Foods in 1975 as a member of the Quality Control team. He held several positions in the areas of quality control, quality assurance and mill scheduling until being named export sales manager in 1981.

He served in this position until 1990 when he was named vice president export sales and marketing. In 2010, Harris was elected to the position of vice president rice sales with responsibility for all rice sales for the cooperative. In October 2014, he was named senior vice president for marketing and risk management, with responsibility for sales of all commodities of the company as well as commodity risk management.

Eugene Young currently serves as regional deputy director for the USDA-NASS Delta Regional Office. In 2010, he was promoted to the Arkansas field office deputy director.

In 2013, with NASS moving to a regional field office structure, he was promoted to regional deputy director in charge of the estimation program for the Delta Regional office serving Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

For more information about the webinar, go to http://www.uaex.edu/farm-ranch/economics-marketing/food-agribusiness-webinars/posts/strengthening-el-nino-2.aspx.