News Release: RICE FARMERS ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND UPCOMING MEETINGS

California Rice Commission Annual Grower Meetings are scheduled for January

The latest news on issues affecting California rice farmers will be presented during the upcoming Annual Grower Meetings held by the California Rice Commission, scheduled for January 12, 2012.

 Download News Release for more information

Guest blog: Snow Goose Festival celebrates Sacramento Valley Wildlife

This year marks the 13th Annual Snow Goose Festival, and we have an exciting, action-packed four days to honor this jewel of the Sacramento Valley.

Thousands will flock to the Chico area for this celebration of local and migratory waterfowl in the Northern Sacramento Valley. We have planned more than 70 field trips that cover six counties, reaching out into the rice fields, wildlife refuges and river walks where mild winter weather, abundant food and lots of water draw our avian visitors. In addition, there will be workshops and activities for birding and nature enthusiasts of all ages.

Greg Miller is joining our festival this year and causing some BIG excitement for everyone! Greg is one of the famed birders featured in the 2004 book, The Big Year, by Mark Obmascik and portrayed by Jack Black in the 2011 movie. Greg will lead several field trips and as Keynote Speaker, will be the highlight of our Gathering of Wings Banquet on Saturday night, January 28.

Be sure to see the inspiring Uptown/Downtown Pacific Flyway Art Exhibit at two of our local galleries: Avenue 9 Gallery and Chico Art Center. Although the exhibit is open Jan. 20 through Feb 12, you won’t want to miss our special Welcome Reception on Friday, Jan. 27. This is a special night for Festival attendees to mix and mingle, admire art, meet the artists, and enjoy live music and refreshments. Bring a friend!

We have also partnered with The Chico Museum, whose exhibit, "Amazing Grains: The Story of Rice and Beyond," beautifully tells the story of the relationship between rice farming and migratory waterfowl along the Pacific Flyway. Museum admission will be free to registered Festival attendees with name badge.

In addition to numerous bird-watching field trips, you might choose to join an owl radio-tracking team on the local ecological reserve, or try birding by ear, a snowshoe hike in Lassen Park, a BIG day of birding, or hike the scenic Sutter Buttes in search of lofty views and resident wildlife.

Our workshops offer something for everyone. You can learn nature photography, sketching in nature, bird carving, how to record nature sounds, designing a garden for wildlife, and much more. Free nature activities are offered for children, as well as armchair adventures for the less hardy.

We must not lose sight of the reason for this celebration. Our region is blessed to be within the Pacific Flyway, and millions of migrating waterfowl consider those rice fields and wetlands home during the winter. We encourage you to see this annual phenomenon firsthand. To find out more about the Snow Goose Festival, go to www.snowgoosefestival.org.

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Jennifer Patten is Event Coordinator for the Snow Goose Festival.

Video from Brian McKenzie- Inside a Grain Bin

Family farmer Brian McKenzie provides a tour inside a bin used to store newly harvested California medium grain rice.

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Brian McKenzie proudly represents the fourth generation of rice farmers in his family. Following his graduation in 2005 from The University of Nevada Reno where he earned bachelors degrees in Economics and Marketing, Brian returned to the family farm in South Sutter County to farm full-time alongside his father, Chris. Brian and his wife, Ashley, grow several varieties of conventional and organic rice. Brian enjoys the challenges that farming brings and takes pride in producing food for the world.

Mochi making tradition in Sacramento

View the Buddhist Church of Sacramento's 50 plus year tradition of making mochi during the holidays. The mochi is sold while supplies last at Oto's Marketplace and Osaka Ya in Sacramento.

Click here to view photo album

New Christmas Family Farmer blogs

Dennis Lindberg- Joyful Season

Debra DeWit- Christmas means Family

New guest blog- Rice is nice for Tournament of Roses Float

My name is Paulina Trujillo, a second year Biomedical Engineering student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and this year’s Decoration Chair for the SLO team. I got hooked onto Rose Float after my first year as a volunteer. I was attracted to the inner workings of this program, especially the decorations department, because of the creative use of materials used to beautifully decorate the float.


Boy was I surprised to find all the hard work and dedication that goes into creating an award-winning float! All of the different types of materials, in addition to flowers, used to decorate a float also amazed me.


Our float this year will feature three superheroes saving the day, each having its own individual power. This float will adorned with several unique materials, including: wheat-based kitty litter, potatoes, an abundance fresh floral, seeds, beans, moving water, and two-hundred pounds of rice. You heard right - two hundred pounds of California rice! This rice will be used on our city hall building located in the middle of the float. It will also be featured in Cal Poly’s first ever murals!


These murals will depict a story of the superheroes working together to save the day. The rice will be used whole and also blended, and mixed with other materials to create the effect desired.

We thank the California rice farmers for this donation and contributing to our decorating efforts, and we look forward to working with them in the future! If you have any interest in our float and would like to help decorate please visit our website.

Be sure to watch our float drive down the parade route on January 2. See you there!

-Paulina Trujillo
Cal Poly Rose Float - SLO, Decoration Chair

New blog from Nicole Van Vleck: Honoring an Environmental Champion

I just returned from Austin, Texas where the USA Rice Federation held its annual Rice Outlook Conference. Hundreds of rice producers from throughout the nation attended. The first day of the convention celebrates the achievements of rice industry’s best with an awards luncheon. This year as a member of the USA Rice Conservation Committee, I had the honor of presenting the USA Rice Federation’s Conservation Achievement Award to Ducks Unlimited, Inc (DU).

Nicole with DU’s George Dunklin,
Paul Bonderson, Jr. and Dan Wrinn

Rice producers have a natural affinity with the organization that was founded in 1937 and has conserved more than 12 million acres. After harvest, farmers flood their rice fields which provide an abundance of food as well as habitat for migratory waterfowl. DU has partnered with the rice industry on various conservation issues. Recently the Migratory Bird Initiative, which was a partnership with DU, NRCS and rice producers, provided flooded rice fields to temporarily replace desperately needed habitat in the Gulf Region after the BP oil spill affected habitat in that region.

My family has worked with DU on the ground in California for decades, and my father now serves DU at the National level on their Conservation Committee. We were the first rice producers in California to enter into a farmland/waterfowl conservation easement with DU that not only protected our home ranch from ever being developed, but also committed water for the wintering birds that stop here as they travel South on the Pacific Flyway.

I see the partnership that the rice and ducks and geese share each and every winter as I look across the ranch and see thousands of them enjoying their stay. Ducks Unlimited continues to grow this special partnership with rice producers throughout the nation, which is why it was so appropriate they received this very distinguished award.

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Nicole Montna Van Vleck is a third generation rice farmer who farms with her parents and sister in Sutter County. Nicole is Managing Partner of Montna Farms which grows, dries and stores super premium short grain rice. Montna Farms partners with many waterfowl organizations to protect and enhance waterfowl habitat primarily on its working rice lands.

Nicole is a graduate of UCLA and The California Agricultural Leadership Program. Nicole and her husband Stan have two school-aged children.

Blog from Jessica Lundberg- Snow Geese at home in California Rice Fields

We had visitors to our office from the press yesterday to learn about upcoming tours through the Snow Goose Festival to local rice farms. The reporters and staff were from the New York Times and the local KIXE office and they were keen to learn more about how rice production for food was a helpful partner in providing habitat for waterfowl in California. This state has the largest percentage loss of historic wetlands in the nation and our rice fields now serve as ‘surrogate wetlands,’ helping millions of wildlife.

This media tour was designed to give the reporters a broad history of the landscape in Northern California which is now rice production, how the land uses have changed over the years and to talk about agricultural water policies. The farms selected were around the city of Chico – home of the Snow Goose Festival – and included Llano Seco (highlighting conservation easements), Rancho Esquon (featuring habitat restoration) and Lundberg Family Farms (pioneers of organic rice farming). The group was very pleased about their day, having seen impressive fields of geese, swans and other waterfowl.

My cousin, Bryce, and I were pleased to have the chance to talk with the group and talk about our farm. They were especially interested in changes that we might have seen in the industry in the last 30 years and how these changes have affected the efficiency, sustainability and biodiversity of the California rice industry; techniques of field leveling, variety development and management of straw through incorporation into the soil have affected many of these changes. We always enjoy the opportunity to dialog about farming of food and the amazing ecosystem we work in every day.

The 13th Annual Snow Goose Festival is January 26-29, 2012 and will feature over 70 fieldtrips, workshops and presentations along with many free activities and events. Check out their website for more information: www.snowgoosefestival.org.

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Jessica Lundberg chairs the Board of Directors of Lundberg Family Farms, the United States’ leading producer of organic rice and rice products. A member of the Lundberg family’s third generation, she also manages the seed nursery, overseeing the maintenance, purity and development of their proprietary rice varieties.


The Lundbergs have practiced sustainable farming techniques since 1937 and today the company leads the eco-positive agricultural movement with a commitment to organic production and renewable energy.


Jessica manages Lundberg Family Farms as a true family business, collaborating with her father, uncles, cousins, and siblings to reach consensus on key business decisions. A pre-med student in college, Jessica’s interest in business, ecology and agriculture inevitably drew her back to the farm, where, in addition to organic and eco-farmed rice, she cultivates the bedrock values of respecting the land, honoring tradition, and producing the highest quality products. Jessica holds a degree in Biological Sciences from California State University at Chico and a certificate in Plant Breeding from University of California at Davis. She makes her home in Chico near the family farm.

Artist Boyd Gavin completes his California Rice painting

Sacramento artist Boyd Gavin provides comments upon completion of his painting entitled Rice Harvest, Colusa County.

New blog from Brian McKenzie: Work continues in California Rice Fields

Family farmer Brian McKenzie describes ongoing work to prepare rice fields for the 2012 season.

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Brian McKenzie proudly represents the fourth generation of rice farmers in his family. Following his graduation in 2005 from The University of Nevada Reno where he earned bachelors degrees in Economics and Marketing, Brian returned to the family farm in South Sutter County to farm full-time alongside his father, Chris. Brian and his wife, Ashley, grow several varieties of conventional and organic rice. Brian enjoys the challenges that farming brings and takes pride in producing food for the world.

Guest blog- How rice fields help our environment and inspire children

Over the last 30 years I’ve enjoyed working in Agriculture, Graphic Design and Publishing in the Sacramento Valley. It is an area of California with an abundance to see and enjoy, especially here in the Butte County area.

Working for Lundberg Family Farms has brought some of the most remarkable images of rice, wildlife, weather and water. It has also brought a realization of the need to educate and inform young people about the world of rice farming and the life in the fields and waterways that so often goes unseen.

The most enlightening moment came from a consumer who wanted to know why in the world would we ‘let’ the birds into our rice fields; the idea of animal and plant mixed was quite bothersome. In my opinion, surely that is the best indication we are losing touch with our food sources and the importance of protecting them.

It seems the taller we get and the further from the ground we move, our thoughts are becoming preoccupied with living life and not sustaining life.

If you slow down and take time to remember some of the really fun moments, like playing and swimming in a rice check and squeezing adobe mud between your toes, it really puts life into perspective. How can you ever forget catching a crawdad or pollywog? Or, when you first saw the tiny legs growing on the side of a pollywog or feeling minnows nipping at your toes.

It’s time to go back to the soil and waterways to take a closer look! You will be amazed discovering the abundance of life found in the water, mud, and weeds.

That’s what motivated me to write the Paddy Cakes Farming Adventure Series, which is dedicated to educational farm-related stories and facts.

I hope this series helps strength the bond our young ones have with their surroundings, enhancing their understanding that there is so much more in the rice fields than grain. Those rice fields are also a valuable part of our ecosystem.

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Robin Smith is Sales Coordinator at Lundberg Family Farms and author of Paddy Cakes, Farming Adventures In The Rice Field. You can inquire about or purchase Paddy Cakes, Farming Adventures in the Rice Fields, by emailing Robin Smith, or by mail to PO Box 1188, Biggs, CA 95917.

New blog from Don Bransford- Wonders of Nature

This fall during a lull in harvest, I was driving slowly along the field and I saw a white head peaking out of a squirrel hole. Not knowing what to expect I stopped the pickup and got out to investigate. Almost immediately a white owl flew from the hole across the ditch to a road on the other side where he landed. I grabbed my camera and looked through the telephoto lens to try to get a better look at my new friend.


I could tell that his white feathers appeared slightly marbled with brown color and his eyes were a bright yellow. At first I thought it might be a baby Barn Owl but was not sure. I took a couple of pictures and headed home to try and figure out what I had just observed. After looking in Bird Guide Books and online, I discovered that it was not a Barn Owl and still a mystery.

Fortunately, a few researchers from Audubon California and Point Reyes Bird Observatory came a few days later and I took them on a “nature” walk to rediscover my find and give me a definite identification. It did not take them long at all. They told me the owl was a leucistic Burrowing Owl. According to Wikepedia: “it is a condition characterized by reduced pigmentation in animals and humans. Unlike albinism, it is caused by a reduction in all types of skin pigment not just melanin.” I also did a slight amount of research online and discovered that a leucistic Burrowing Owl was described in a 1984 research paper so my discovery is not the first, but very exciting all the same.

I have included a few photos of the leucistic Burrowing Owl along with a few photos of what you would normally see in the field. Enjoy!

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Don Bransford: This fourth-generation family farmer has grown rice in Colusa County since 1980. Don has a long history of service to the community and agriculture, including nearly 30 years on the Board of Trustees and Governing Board for the Colusa Unified School District. He currently serves as President of the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District. Don’s interests include photography, as he enjoys capturing the majestic wildlife often seen in his rice fields. Don and his wife Diane have four children.

New blog from Tom Butler- From Harvest to Hawaii

When our three combines came to rest at 9:14pm on November 11 for the last time this season (I may have been looking at the clock) it meant a quite a lot of things to myself and my family. Chiefly, it meant another rice harvest, my ninth, had finally come to a close after a late start, several delays, and the threat of rain constantly looming over each day.

It was a surprising one for me too; I had spent the second unseasonably mild summer in a row readying myself for what I was sure to be smaller yields, likely made worse by the inevitable October storm that was sure not to miss us two years in a row. Thankfully, I make a terrible weatherman.

The other accomplishment within our family was something else I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to deliver on. Earlier in the year, my Mother, two sisters, and wife all organized a family wide trip to Hawaii for Thanksgiving.

All year long, my Dad and I had to play the heavy,(“it’s going to be a tough fall guys” became our mantra) and I seriously doubted my prospects of going as the calendar turned to November and I counted the acreage remaining to finish.

So with a lot of luck, we were able to spend Thanksgiving together in Kailua, Oahu. Needless to say, it was a great holiday filled with trips to Pearl Harbor, Waikiki, Diamond Head, and horseback tour through one of the first cattle ranches on the island (wife’s idea).

Another nice view I got was the entire aisle of California rice on display in the local Safeway.

There really is no way for me to close this update out without sounding like a rejected TV episode special message,

so I’ll just simply state that when I sat back towards the end of the trip and reflected on the year this year, I truly had too many things to be thankful to count. I also had a mountain of things waiting for me when I got back Sunday, and as we continue to flood up our fields for the winter waterfowl, do the dormant fertilization in our almond orchard, and begin the process of shipping our rice out of dryer, it all begins again.

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More about Tom: Tom Butler farms rice with his father, Steve, in Sutter and Yolo Counties. Tom is the fourth generation of his family to farm.

When he’s not on the job, the University of Nebraska graduate enjoys swimming, water polo, hunting and spending time with his family.

New Blogger Grant Lundberg: CA Brown Rice gains popularity

Grant Lundberg of Lundberg Family Farms, describes the positive attributes of California Brown Rice.

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Grant Lundberg is Chief Executive Officer of Lundberg Family Farms in Richvale, Butte County.

Comments from CRC President and CEO- New Agricultural Water Use Report provides invaluable information

By Tim Johnson, California Rice Commission President & CEO

It’s not often that a report on water use in agriculture gets it right. I can't remember a report that ever got it right twice. The recent report “Agricultural Water Use in California - A 2011 Update” by the Center for Irrigation Technology at CSU Fresno sets the standard for an unbiased, honest look at water use in agriculture.

First, the report correctly states that water is used very efficiently in California agriculture. We know that in rice water use efficiency has increased by some 30 percent in the last decades. Rice farmers have developed shorter-stature varieties, shifted production to heavy clay soils and precisely level their fields prior to planting. These steps help them maximize efficiency and get “more grain for every drop.”

Second, the report notes the often overlooked and significant impacts of crop shifting based on the amount of water used. The report correctly characterizes this impact in rice, "Also, one of the fields in this example is rice. Irrigated rice fields have been proven to provide much needed waterfowl habitat. If this crop was shifted to one with less seasonal ETc and/or no standing water in order to leave more water in the river, this habitat would be reduced or lost altogether".

Stated simply, ducks don't live in wine grape vineyards or almond orchards. They are very prevalent in Sacramento Valley rice fields.

These findings aside, many won't like them - especially those who continue to labor under an incorrect view that some crops are more valuable than others. Unfortunately, rice is often used as a poster child for high water use and low value.

Often lost is the honest assessment that a crop, like rice, perfectly suited for the heavy clay soils where it's grown, in flooded fields is intimately connected with the environment where it is grown. Rice provides an invaluable contribution to millions of ducks and geese that winter in the Sacramento Valley each year. Take rice away and the whole ecosystem suffers - small rural communities, salmon in the flowing rivers in the Sacramento Valley and 230 species of wildlife from reptiles to raptors.

Looking at value at this level, an ecosystem level, tells a much truer picture of how well water is used in ricelands and all of agriculture.

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Tim Johnson, CRC President & CEO

Video from Charley Mathews- Winter in California Ricelands is for the birds

Family farmer Charley Mathews Jr. discusses the large populations of birds in California rice fields.

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Fifth-generation farmer Charley Mathews is continuing a family a legacy that began in the 1850s. Their first rice fields were planted in the 1940s and are still going strong in Yuba County. Charley is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He and his wife Hilliary have two sons, Parker and Adam.

New blog from Sean Doherty- Let it Rain

What a challenging year! More so than last year I'd wager. This last weekend was the first one that I've had off since September and what a nice wet one it was.

These winter rainy days are one of the "perks" of being a rice farmer. The crop is in the warehouse, the equipment is back at the shop, the mountain of paperwork can be pushed off for a day or two, and you can spend the day at home with the family.

Not that the family isn't out in the fields with me. Quite the contrary, some of the best days of harvest season is when I forget my lunch and my wife Melissa and some or all of the kids bring it to me. Or if its a weekend and my son spends the day in the harvester with me, talking about all the things that second grade boys talk about. It's just that the winter is when you're able to relax a bit, unwind and not have to worry about much until, say.........March. As for now, let it rain.

View photos of the Doherty Family during harvest.

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Sean Doherty is a 3rd generation rice farmer living out his dream, being a rice farmer in Dunnigan.

He farms in Yolo, Colusa, and Sutter Counties with his wife Melissa, and three kids, Hannah, Gus, and Mary. He enjoys being in the fields, watching the seasons, and sharing it with his family.

Read more about Sean in Rice Farming magazine

New Guest Blog from Ducks Unlimited: Conservation takes flight

By Mark Biddlecomb

Ducks Unlimited, Inc.’s (DU) mission is to conserve, restore and manage wetlands and associated habitats for North America’s waterfowl. It’s DU’s vision to have wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever.

What then, does DU and California Rice have in common? Well, a lot! If you’ve ever been to, worked on or even driven by a flooded rice field in winter, you may have seen thousands of waterfowl either wheeling in the sky above or feeding in the flooded field.

Wetlands and winter-flooded rice are very important for the food resources they provide to the millions of ducks and geese that winter in the Central Valley. Wetlands provide a wide variety of food resources including a variety of seeds and invertebrates and also provide shelter for resting birds. However, in many areas of the Central Valley, there are not enough wetlands to fully provide the food needed by our wintering waterfowl.

That’s where rice comes in. In some basins, over 50 percent of the food resources necessary to sustain our ducks and geese through the winter months comes in the form of rice left over after fields have been harvested.

Ducks Unlimited is science based. And science tells us that given the current number of wetlands available, without winter flooded rice fields waterfowl would be running out of food well before they are ready to migrate back to their breeding grounds in the north. Ducks in the Central Valley need rice!

And as rice growers know, winter flooding has other benefits. Flooding and the subsequent use by waterfowl help to break down rice straw. And many winter-flooded rice fields are also leased for waterfowl hunting. This provides growers with a little extra income and hunters (many of whom are DU members) with an opportunity to hunt private lands. Hunting on some rice fields can be excellent, given the right location, weather and other factors. Blinds can be in high demand and this is a good indication of the interest people have in hunting winter-flooded rice.

These are challenging times and we all need to work together. Congress seems bent on letting conservation programs whither on the vine and with the world population just hitting the seven billion mark, our natural and agricultural resources are being stretched ever thinner. Ducks Unlimited has worked with many rice growers in areas that are potentially threatened by urban expansion to protect their operations with agricultural easements. Funding for these easements is becoming ever harder to come by, but we continue to work with our funding partners to ensure they know the importance of rice. Federal conservation programs, water quality issues such as methyl mercury, nutrient and pesticide loads and water availability are all issues that DU and the California Rice Commission coordinate and work closely on together.

Conservation is defined by Merriam-Webster as the: …planned management of a natural resource to prevent exploitation, destruction, or neglect. Ducks Unlimited and California rice growers both fit that bill and working together we can keep rice on the table and California’s skies filled with waterfowl, too!

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Mark Biddlecomb is Director of the Ducks Unlimited Western Regional Office. For more information about DU, log on to ducks.org.

Multimedia Presentation- Family rice farm finishes 2011 harvest

Rice farmer Brian McKenzie talks about the 2011 rice harvest, as their family farm wraps up the season.

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Brian McKenzie proudly represents the fourth generation of rice farmers in his family. Following his graduation in 2005 from The University of Nevada Reno where he earned bachelors degrees in Economics and Marketing, Brian returned to the family farm in South Sutter County to farm full-time alongside his father, Chris. Brian and his wife, Ashley, grow several varieties of conventional and organic rice. Brian enjoys the challenges that farming brings and takes pride in producing food for the world.

Blog by Brian McKenzie- Family rice farm finishes 2011 harvest

Rice farmer Brian McKenzie talks about the 2011 rice harvest, as their family farm wraps up the season.

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Brian McKenzie proudly represents the fourth generation of rice farmers in his family. Following his graduation in 2005 from The University of Nevada Reno where he earned bachelors degrees in Economics and Marketing, Brian returned to the family farm in South Sutter County to farm full-time alongside his father, Chris. Brian and his wife, Ashley, grow several varieties of conventional and organic rice. Brian enjoys the challenges that farming brings and takes pride in producing food for the world.

Blog by Chris Crutchfield- California Rice Season Update

Chris Crutchfield, President and CEO of American Commodity Company, updates the year for California's rice industry. Harvest is nearing completion but the milling and shipping of rice continues.

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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.

Guest blog- Fish Screen helps Sacramento River Salmon

Watermaster Pat Kennedy of the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District provides information on their 1,100 foot long fish screen and describes how it helps Sacramento River salmon.

New from Ducks Unlimited: How California Rice helps Ducks

A Banquet for Ducks- Flooded rice fields help support the majority of the nation’s wintering dabbling ducks

By Mark Petrie, Michael Brasher, and John Tirpak

Download article here

Blog post by Peter Rystrom- Finishing by a whisker

The End of Harvest is here. For nearly six weeks my family and I have been working nonstop to bring in the crop. Though early rains had everyone imagining worst-case scenarios, three straight weeks of sunshine and 75 degree weather quickly came to our rescue. There is no feeling like cutting the last load of rice in the field. The level of physical exhaustion can typically be measured by the frantic pace at with every machine beelines for the home shop where we park for the winter.

But the work is not quite finished...You might imagine that the harvesters, bankouts, and trucks return safely to the shop unscathed by mud, rice, and straw. You would be wrong! It will take well over a week of pulling mud, blowing off rice, and scrubbing metal before we can truly welcome winter with relief. I like to think that I get handed these "dirty jobs" because I am a stellar employee or because the family trusts nobody else with such important tasks...common, just let me believe that!

I would like to think I learned a lesson or two from this years harvest.

1) Duct tape can indeed fix anything. (If you are unhappy with your duct tape fix, you should have thought of that before you broke it).

2) Apparently, you can further your education in a bankout...if you are weird. (Completing six hours of ukulele practice per day or 50 pages of Russian literature is not uncommon)

3) Girls love rice harvest. (Seriously though, not one dude has ever come out to visit!)

Finally, the single greatest achievement in the history of harvest was on display this year...The Harvest Mustache!


You may not know the fullness of what this life has to offer until you have walked amongst 10 mustaches, all gathered in the same place for a common goal. Full 'staches, sparse staches, all were welcome this year as my family and I demonstrated what solidarity really is.

After two months of heavy mustache persecution and shunning by the female gender, we are proud to say that we are clean shaven...but the fond memories will live on in our hearts forever...now feast your eyes on these photos, and I will see you soon!

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After completing his college education, Peter Rystrom is happily back at work as a fourth-generation farmer in Butte County. Working alongside his father Steve, grandfather Don, uncle Gary and several cousins, this family has a century-long tradition of rice farming in the Sacramento Valley.

After graduating from UC Davis with an International Relations and Spanish double major, he worked with Community Enterprise Solutions in Guatemala and lead tours across the United States for Trek America.

Peter enjoys the change in seasons on the farm and the freedom of being outside all day.

When he’s not on the farm, he enjoys backpacking trips into the mountains as well as world travel. Other passions include being involved in the lives of others through church small groups and friendships, both at home and abroad.

Video from Sandy Denn- Snow Goose Farms wraps up harvest season

Family farmer Sandy Denn in Willows describes how the 2011 rice harvest season treated her.

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Sandy Denn and her husband Wally own and operate Snow Goose Farms near Willows in Glenn County. She holds a law degree and has served on numerous boards and committees dealing with water in the North State. Sandy and Wally have six grown children. Her passions include hunting and fishing, and she used to fly a hot air balloon and a stunt plane for relaxation.

Video from Dennis Lindberg- 2011 California Rice Harvest wrapping up

Family farmer Dennis Lindberg of Richvale, Butte County describes the challenge and success that came from the 2011 rice harvest.

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Dennis Lindberg has grown rice in Butte County for nearly 70 consecutive years.He’s a well-known author and metal artist, taking scrap metal and creating beautiful animal sculptures. His civic work and love of community is evidenced by his being honored as “Outstanding Citizen of the 20th Century” by Lundberg Family Farms. He and his wife Charlotte have two children – Gary and Sherry. Gary farms with his father in the historic community of Richvale, which recently celebrated its centennial.

New Video- California Rice field trip

Students from Richvale School visited with family farmer Josh Sheppard during his harvest near Chico.

New blog- History that spans cultures

By Tim Johnson, California Rice Commission President & CEO

Often history is seen as a single thread. Past events are translated as something belonging only to one people or associated with a single place. As a result, book titles like “American History” or “History of the California Gold Rush” proliferate. In truth, however, one event nearly always influences another. One thread is woven into a whole fabric on the loom of time. This is certainly true with the Gold Hill Wakamatsu Colony.

I had the great opportunity to visit the Gold Hill Wakamatsu Colony site last week with members of the Japanese Consulate’s office in San Francisco and acclaimed sushi chef Tomoharu Nakamura of Sanraku.

This image of these three Japanese men standing on the porch of an 1854 American farmhouse struck me forcefully. This must have been close to the image of the original colonists standing in the same spot in 1869 after a long day farming!

While the first Japanese colonists in the U.S. were only in Gold Hill for a few short years, their impact was widespread. The Placer County town of Penryn later became an all–Japanese community replete with two grocery stores and many other shops. Japanese laborers migrated to Colusa County in the early 1900’s to work in the adjacent rice fields. Japanese agriculturalists became known for their fruit and nursery stock across the state.

In 1869, nineteen colonists traveled to the Gold Hill site in wagons from Sacramento – the last leg on a journey that started by steamship to San Francisco and paddle wheel up the Sacramento River. Their initial impact on history was small and limited to the small El Dorado County towns of Gold Hill and Placerville. Certainly their countrymen in Japan knew of the settlement. That was about the extent, however.

A century and a half later we can see how this small first step on U.S. soil impacted not only a state and one culture, but also an entire nation and all its people. Certainly it impacted one person who grew up less than ten miles from the Colony site and later went to work in the California rice industry. For that I am grateful.

New video from Josh Sheppard- Season Finale

Family farmer Josh Sheppard of Butte County comments on the final hours of his 2011 harvest.

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Josh Sheppard is proud to be part of the fourth generation of his family that have been farming rice in Butte County for many generations. After receiving degrees in Agribusiness and Water Science from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo in 1997 he returned to the 3,000 acre family rice operation with his parents, a brother, and a sister. Josh and his wife, Kathryn, have two children.

When he’s not on the farm, he enjoys time as a volunteer for the California Waterfowl Association and his children's youth basketball programs.

Photo Album- Nighttime Rice Harvesting in the Sacramento Valley

Photographer Brian Baer captures images of family farmer Sean Doherty harvesting rice near Dunnigan.

View photo album

Video from Brian McKenzie- A different view of newly-harvest California Rice

Family farmer Brian McKenzie describes the volume of grain produced at his farm in the Natomas area.

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Brian McKenzie proudly represents the fourth generation of rice farmers in his family. Following his graduation in 2005 from The University of Nevada Reno where he earned bachelors degrees in Economics and Marketing, Brian returned to the family farm in South Sutter County to farm full-time alongside his father, Chris. Brian and his wife, Ashley, grow several varieties of conventional and organic rice. Brian enjoys the challenges that farming brings and takes pride in producing food for the world.

Guest blog- Rice Works in California

By Val Dolcini, State Executive Director
USDA Farm Service Agency – California

As the fall harvest continues for California’s 2,500 family rice farmers, let me say thanks to this important industry. These are the men and women whose businesses and operations contribute up to 25,000 jobs to the state economy, a fact worth highlighting these days.

The primary mission of my agency is to provide a “safety net” for our state’s farmers and ranchers. FSA and USDA programs offer a baseline of protection for nearly all of California’s farmers and ranchers who are highly exposed to risk from natural disasters, pests and invasive species, and other events that can cripple a family business. These “safety net” programs can make a real difference. When a farm or ranch fails, the underlying vitality of a community is weakened and that can lead to negative impacts on the rural communities where farmers and farm employees live and work.

Rural California depends on agriculture for jobs and economic growth and the annual revenue generated by the rice industry in California totals almost $2 billion. California is also a major player in Pacific Rim trade and our state’s rice industry is an extremely important contributor, not only to our own economy, but to the world’s diet and well-being, too. The recently announced Free Trade Agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama are good news for California producers, continuing to open doors in new and emerging markets that will benefit Golden State agriculture as well as our rural economies.

FSA is proud of its successful partnership with California rice farmers and will continue to work with all the state’s farmers and ranchers to keep the industry in good health. If you want to learn more about what the Farm Service Agency does in California, visit us at www.fsa.usda.gov/ca.

Video from Peter Rystrom- Midway point of family rice harvest

Family farmer Peter Rystrom describes the progress being made during this season's rice harvest in Butte County.

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After completing his college education, Peter Rystrom is happily back at work as a fourth-generation farmer in Butte County. Working alongside his father Steve, grandfather Don, uncle Gary and several cousins, this family has a century-long tradition of rice farming in the Sacramento Valley.

After graduating from UC Davis with an International Relations and Spanish double major, he worked with Community Enterprise Solutions in Guatemala and lead tours across the United States for Trek America.

Peter enjoys the change in seasons on the farm and the freedom of being outside all day.

When he’s not on the farm, he enjoys backpacking trips into the mountains as well as world travel. Other passions include being involved in the lives of others through church small groups and friendships, both at home and abroad.

Video- Family rice harvest featured for upcoming painting

Artist Boyd Gavin of Sacramento discusses the setting in Colusa County for his upcoming painting about California rice.

Video- Assembly Member Richard Pan tours California Ricelands

Assembly Member Richard Pan comments after riding a rice harvester and touring a field in Sutter County.