Ex-Ag Center agent receives industry award

NEW ORLEANS – Retired LSU AgCenter county agent Keith Fontenot and rice farmer Jimmy Hoppe, of Fenton, Louisiana, were recognized at the USA Rice Outlook Conference for their decades of work in the rice industry.
The conference, held Dec. 9-11, set a USA Rice conference record, with 925 people in attendance.
Fontenot received the Rice Industry Award for his work with rice farmers for more than 30 years.
“I’ve been blessed to work in an area where we have some of the best rice producers in the world,” Fontenot said.
Looking back on his career, Fontenot said he enjoyed his work. “It was a good job to go to, and a fun job to go to. You couldn’t ask for a finer group of people to work with.”
He said he was fortunate to work with the faculty at one of the best research facilities in the world, the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station at Crowley.
USA Rice presents a united effort. “It’s very important we work together and not splinter and attack things,” Fontenot said. He will continue to work with rice farmers, assisting with the LSU AgCenter Rice Verification Program.
Hoppe received the Lifetime Achievement Award. He grew 50 crops of rice in his farming career. Even in retirement, Hoppe is active in the rice industry. He continues a specialty rice business and is active in several agriculture-related organizations.
Hoppe said he made lifelong friends in the various rice organizations. “They are here, and they stay with me,” he said. “And I remember them all.”
One of those friends is Tim Walker of Horizon Ag.
“Jimmy Hoppe is one who reached out to me when I started my career,” Walker said.
The Rice Awards are sponsored by Rice Farming magazine, Horizon Ag and USA Rice.
Among those also honored at the event was Kevin Norton, state conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.