HOUSTON — Success Rice, a Riviana Foods Inc. brand, will partner with a group of Arkansas farmers who are committed to sustainable rice farming. These farmers will form the Farm Management Group, and Riviana Foods will be its coordinator. Riviana Foods said it is committed to purchasing rice from these farmers using a mass balance approach and in an amount that is equal to the volume of its Success white and brown rice consumption.

To maintain the Farm Management Group’s engagement in sustainable farming practices, Riviana Foods will use the Sustainable Agricultural Initiative Platform’s Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA), a toolset for farms and companies in agricultural value chains to help determine, improve, and authenticate on-farm sustainability performance. The company will source rice that the farmers will grow, and the Farm Management Group will carry out FSA Silver level practices to establish a sustainable operation that produces verified sustainably grown rice.

The farmers also will make sure their farms thrive through water management, soil management, air quality and emissions, identifying clean and sustainable sources of renewable energy, and other methods of farm management. According to Riviana Foods, the FSA will act as a “governance mechanism,” so the company has a third party verifying the Farm Management Group’s commitment to sustainability.

“We consider sustainable agricultural practices to be essential, not only from a good stewardship standpoint, but also as a fundamental business principle,” said Erica Larson, director of marketing at Riviana Foods. “To ensure a better future, it is crucial we prioritize support for farmers who engage in sustainable practices.”

The partnership is a component of both Success Rice’s Growing for Tomorrow Initiative and Riviana Foods’ five pillars of sustainability, the latter of which involves reducing waste, energy, emissions, water and packaging.