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                         ERLY INDUSTRIES INC.         
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               (Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)

                               THE POWELL GROUP
                       FARMERS RICE MILLING COMPANY, INC.     
                               NANETTE N. KELLEY
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   (Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant)

   
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                                                           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                                                                COMPANY CONTACT:
[LOGO OF THE POWELL GROUP]
                                                                  Nanette Kelley
                                                                       President
                                                                  (504) 922-4540

                                          POWELL GROUP SUBSIDIARY FILES PETITION
                                         COMPEL INSPECTION OF ACCOUNTING RECORDS
                                                OF ERLY INDUSTRIES INC. (NASDAQ)

                          BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA, AUGUST 20, 1997...Farmers Rice
Milling Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Powell Group, and The Powell 
Group President Nanette N. Kelley, who together own approximately 3.8% of the 
common shares of ERLY INDUSTRIES INC. (NASDAQ:ERLY), Los Angeles, announced 
today that they have filed a petition in Superior Court in the County of Los 
Angeles seeking a Writ of Mandate to compel inspection of ERLY's accounting 
books and records.

     Kelley said that on July 30, 1997, she and Farmers Rice Milling made a 
written demand on ERLY to make its accounting books and records available for 
inspection as provided by California law, and that ERLY has failed and refused 
to provide this information.

     "ERLY must respond to our demand. We will not go away," said Nanette 
Kelley, president of The Powell Group.

     On July 25, 1997, Kelley and The Powell Group Companies filed a Consent
Solicitation with the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking approval, among
other things, to solicit ERLY shareholders with respect to removing the current
board of directors. Separately, Farmers Rice Milling recently filed a lawsuit in
Federal Court against Gerald Murphy, chairman and chief operating officer of
ERLY, and Douglas Murphy, chief operating officer and a director of ERLY,
alleging, among other things, breach of fiduciary duty and waste of corporate
assets in connection with litigation arising from the defendants' personal
investment in a real estate development project in Texas.

     A privately-held holding company based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, The 
Powell Group has interests in rice farming, rice milling and storage, rice 
hull-to-electricity generation, radio broadcasting, commercial and residential 
real estate development and construction, travel management services and timber.

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