A Southeast Missouri State University graduate is driving global growth from right here in his home region, turning a family farm idea into a thriving agribusiness.
Sam Schneider, a 2014 agribusiness graduate, is the owner of Inland Cape Rice Company, a family-founded business in Scott City, Missouri, that farms, mills and packages high-quality, U.S.-grown rice. What began as a small idea to add value to his family’s farm has helped drive the regional economy and expand Missouri’s agricultural footprint worldwide.
“When we first started, it was just an experiment,” Schneider said. “We thought we’d mill a few bags of rice as Christmas gifts or sell to local restaurants for fun. But once I started digging into what it really takes to mill rice, I realized there was a much bigger opportunity to bring that process home.”
That experiment turned into Inland Cape Rice Company, officially launched in 2019, just months before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were launching on Amazon right as the pandemic hit, and rice suddenly became one of those staple foods people wanted to keep stocked,” said Schneider. “That early demand helped us take the next step to build our own processing and packaging facility here in Scott City.”
Source : semo.edu