New Chris Crutchfield Blog- Family Field Trip to Rice Country

Recently I had the opportunity to take a day off from work and show my wife and little girl around the California Rice Industry.  We started the day off at our home in Sacramento, and headed north to our rice farm in Robbins.  After a short 30-minute drive we were there.  We drove around the outside of the field, and took a couple of opportunities to stop, take pictures, and check out the crop.  I'm going to be giving a presentation about California Rice to my daughter's class soon, so we took this opportunity to "harvest" a few rice plants so we can show all the kids how rice looks growing in the field.  My daughter Chase walked out into the field to find that the standing rice plants are as tall as she is!

After checking out our own rice and determining that it is at least a week away from harvest, we headed over to Montna Farms where they are almost finished with harvesting their entire ranch.  We met up with the operations manager, Jon Munger, who was nice enough to let my wife Laurie and Chase take their first ever ride in a harvester.  They rode all the way around the check of Koshihikari rice that was being harvested.

From Alex, the combine driver, they learned several interesting things.  The harvester is operated by a GPS auto-steering control system that allows Alex to "drive" the machine in a perfectly straight line.  They got to see all of the analytical computer systems inside which give the operator real time readouts about the crop being harvested including yield per acre, moisture content, and many other useful pieces of information.  This information can all be uploaded to the head office while the harvester is in the field.  They also learned that the brand new Case International with the 30-foot header on it can hold 10,000 pounds of rice before it has to empty its hopper.  When it does dump a load, it never stops moving.  The bank-out wagon drives right alongside the combine, and can receive the entire load in 58 seconds while in full motion so they can continue without stopping.  Alex said at this time of year, they are cutting rice for 11 hours per day seven days per week!

After loading up on fresh veggies at a stand on Highway 99 and lunch in Yuba City at In-N-Out Burger, the final stop of the day was at the ACC rice mill and warehouse in Williams.  While at daddy's office, Chase renewed her friendship with everyone who works there and has been watching her grow up since she was born three and a half years ago.  We also picked out a bunch of things to take with us to her school for our big presentation.  Chase and Laurie got to see the drying and storage operation where we are receiving as many as 100 loads of green rice from growers per day during the peak of harvest season.  We also checked out the 11-acre one megawatt solar array that powers the whole operation at ACC.

The chance to take a day off from work doesn't come often.  My job requires a lot of travel and many nights away from the house even when I am at home.  This opportunity to spend the entire day with Laurie and Chase and to show them around the industry that has supported the Crutchfield family for three generations is one that I will remember and cherish for a long time.  I'm pretty sure they will too!

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Chris Crutchfield
President and CEO -- American Commodity Company

Chris Crutchfield is very proud to represent the third generation of his family to be involved in the rice industry. Currently Chris is involved in all aspects of California rice from production all the way to the grocery store shelf.

Shortly after graduating from the University of Missouri in 1996, Chris moved back to California and joined with his father Paul Crutchfield in the formation of a rough rice pool for direct marketing to Turkey. Chris was responsible for the day-to-day management of the pool. That partnership developed into the formation of American Commodity Company (ACC) in 2000, and Chris assumed all direct management responsibilities for ACC.

Prior to establishing himself in the California rice industry, Chris worked in the press offices of Governor Pete Wilson as his Assistant Press Secretary. He also briefly taught secondary education in the California public school system.