SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A new rice mill here has begun shipping rice to market nearly two years after construction started.

The News-Star reports that the first shipment of rice at the Kennedy Rice Mill went out Friday in 10 rail cars.

The mill can process up to 3 million hundredweight of rough rice per year. It creates more than 20 permanent jobs and gives northeastern Louisiana producers another outlet for their crop. Rice will mostly be distributed for the domestic market.

The mill is the work of Elton Kennedy, an agriculture mogul in Louisiana, and his daughter Meryl Kennedy.

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