Growing in agribusiness

In back-to-back meetings, the Ville Platte Rotary Club heard about issues pertaining to the farming business in Evangeline Parish and beyond.
Leading off the tandem was local store owner Ryan Vidrine, who bought Manuel Hardware from Rotarian Kip Manuel and his sister. Vidrine and his wife Jamie have successfully turned the business into Flat Town Farm Supply and Hardware, LLC.
“In May will be three years that we took over,” Vidrine said. “I started learning a little bit in about January of that year, and that was the first time I’ve ever been in a rice bin. I have learned a lot over the last three years like about grain bins and the business in general. I’ve always dealt with people when I sold chemicals, but this is different. It’s daily interaction with the community, and it’s interesting at times.”
Vidrine went on to express that, while keeping the old customers of Manuel Hardware, he is reaching out to find new customers in new areas. “I’m doing business in Shreveport, Jonesboro, Jonesville, Winnsboro, Lake Charles, and kind of all over the state,” he stated. “We actually just got a call to do some work in New Orleans at the port. I’m pretty excited about these things. They are some much bigger operations, and it’s more commercial and industrial stuff than just the on-farm storage.”
The business, according to Vidrine, is also now offering its customers a new line of farming equipment called Vermeer Hay Equipment. As he told the Rotary Club, “Most guys know the Vermeer name, and it’s a very good family owned company with good business and good products. We don’t have the industrial line, but we do have the ag line of cutters, mowers, balers, and rakes.”
Another new exciting thing for Vidrine to better serve his customers is the launching of a Website which address is flattownfarmsupply.com. “It basically ships straight to your door anywhere in the United States,” he explained. “We have over 80,000 products in the warehouse. It’s anything from garden supplies to parts to rebuild a tractor. I’m in the process of putting grain bin repair parts and other small things in that line as well.”
He continued, “A guy in Illinois may need a part, so I have the ability to sell him something. It’s going to broaden our business structure, but I like it and am excited about it. Also, we are working with Amazon to get everything we have on there too.”
Speaking to the Rotary Club this week was Jeffrey Sylvester, who is currently the chairman of the Louisiana Rice Political Action Committee. He lives in Evangeline Parish and plants 5,000 acres of rice, soybeans, and crawfish in St. Landry Parish.
As chairman of the PAC, Sylvester updated Rotarians on issues that rice producers are facing today. The first of which is the 2019 Farm Bill that is being debated and voted on by Congress. “It is very crucial for the rice industry, and we’re trying to leave it as it is,” said Sylvester. “It worked in the past and kept us in business.”
According to Sylvester, the second main issue is President Donald Trump’s proposed changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “NAFTA really works well for the rice industry and the farming industry in general,” Sylvester expressed. “Mexico is our number one buyer of rice, and Canada is our number four buyer of rice. We’re trying to make Congress not to mess with it because it works.”
The final issue discussed by Sylvester was the opening of the Cuban market to Louisiana rice producers. As he stated, “The last administration was very close to closing a deal where we could sell to Cuba. They can consume the amount of rice that Louisiana produces in a year.”
He added, “We’re hoping in the next few years that we’ll have it to where, from the Port of Lake Charles, we can send small vessels to the small ports in Cuba which would save them money and only bring the rice that they need.”
Switching to crawfish, Sylvester shared that producers are “experiencing a really big boom.” He added, “In the late 60s and early 70s, you could count on one hand how many rice farmers were doing crawfish in Evangeline and St. Landry Parishes. Now, it’s a good moneymaker and is just blooming.”
Sylevster attributed the boom in crawfish to the influx of Chinese crawfish in the 1980s. “A lot of people then tried crawfish for the first time and started liking it, so we told them, if you like those crawfish, then you really need to try Louisiana crawfish because there’s much difference in the quality and taste. It started a chain reaction across the country and is really working well for the farmers.”