Get granular at America’s oldest rice mill in New Iberia, Louisiana
By Tom Adkinson
March 31, 2023

NEW IBERIA, La. – The slightly tattered gumbo recipe pinned to a wall in the Conrad Rice Mill’s company store doesn’t say how much rice is required, but it’s a lot. A whole lot.

That’s because the recipe is for 350 glorious gallons of gumbo. The long list of ingredients includes 1,000 pounds of chicken, 600 dozen oysters, 100 pounds of smoked sausage, 300 pounds of onions, 75 pounds of bell peppers and 60 heads of garlic.

Regardless of how much rice is needed, it’s available right here in New Iberia because America’s oldest rice mill is adjacent to the company store, and owners Mike and Sandy Davis can crank up the machinery at will. (The mill’s products carry the “Konriko” trademark, an adaptation of “Conrad Rice Company.”)

The recipe might be a joke – or something reserved for one of Louisiana’s multitude of food festivals – but growing and processing rice in south Louisiana certainly isn’t.

When you visit the mill and company store, your experience begins with a video presentation that delivers an in-depth look at the region’s history and how the Cajun culture evolved after exiled French Canadian colonists settled here in the 1700s. Rice and the evolution of the Conrad mill are a piece of that story.

According to company literature, P.A. Conrad founded the company in 1912 to grow and mill his own rice. The business grew, and Conrad began buying rice from other farmers. The Konriko name came along in the 1950s, and distribution was regional.

A second generation of Conrads ran the company for decades, but by the 1970s, they felt their run was over. Enter Mike Davis, a teacher and farmer with a degree in marketing, who was looking for a different line of work.

“I drove by the mill, met the owners and bought it. We started with three local grocery stores as our client base,” Davis said, explaining that while the mill was old, it still had life in it. He and his wife operate it as America’s oldest rice mill.

Your tour takes you into the mill, but not when the noisy machinery is cranked up. You walk on century-old cypress flooring while a guide explains the multi-step process and describes how the belt-driven machinery works. When P.A. Conrad ran it, a steam engine powered the operation. It’s now electrified. The oldest piece in the mill is a rice sorter installed in 1927. The “new” equipment is from the 1970s.

The core of the mill dates to 1912, and there were additions in 1917 and 1930. The relative simplicity of the operation and the fact little ever really changed meant the mill was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

The company store is a step back in time, too, but the inventory is quite contemporary. Its products have distribution in 50 states and are available online. The emphasis is on rice products, a substantial number of spice mixes and some Louisiana-themed gift items.

Among the rice items are wild pecan rice, original brown rice, a long grain and wild rice mix, a paella rice mix and a curry rice mix. Spices include a Creole seasoning, a no-salt Creole seasoning, a Greek seasoning and a Gulf Coast seasoning blend especially for shrimp, crab, crawfish and chicken.

Among the rice items are wild pecan rice, original brown rice, a long grain and wild rice mix, a paella rice mix and a curry rice mix. Spices include a Creole seasoning, a no-salt Creole seasoning, a Greek seasoning and a Gulf Coast seasoning blend especially for shrimp, crab, crawfish and chicken.

The Davises don’t identify a specific spice blend for the 350-gallon gumbo recipe beyond three pounds of red pepper, one pound of black pepper and a half-gallon of Tabasco sauce. It’s only neighborly for the recipe to suggest that last item since the Tabasco factory and its tour are only 10 miles away.

Trip-planning resources: www.conradrice.com, iberiatravel.com and www.lafayettetravel.com