The USA Rice board of directors said Thursday that it elected Brian King of Erwin Keith Inc. as its new chairman.
The board voted for King during its annual meeting last week. Erwin Keith Inc. has two locations, in McCrory and Wynne.
King, a rice merchant with more than 23 years of rice and grain marketing experience, will assume the two-year post on Aug. 1, according to a news release. He is replacing Dow Brantley, an Arkansas rice farmer who had been chairman of the group since 2014.
In the news release, Brantley said King will make a great chairman because he is "well versed in U.S. rice industry issues," having served on the board of the USA Rice Merchants' Association and as current chair of the USA Rice Western Hemisphere Subcommittee.
King has been a member of the USA Rice Merchants' Association since 2005 and is a graduate of the Rice Leadership Development Program. He also served on the organization's Sustainability and World Market Price committees as well as its Biotechnology Task Force.
King told Arkansas Business that he would continue to advocate for the lifting of the trade embargo on Cuba. He's traveled there three times and said they want rice from here but hand have been tied by the U.S. government. King also said he would like to see the rice industry become more unified.
"This is an exciting time for the American rice industry with many challenges and opportunities ahead," USA Rice President and CEO Betsy Ward said in the release. "I look forward to working with Chairman-elect King as we tackle these issues on behalf of the entire U.S. industry."
Brantley will continue with USA Rice on its Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee.