New CRC Blog- Ag and Conservation Partnerships are the future of Working Lands

By Tim Johnson

Twenty years ago the California rice industry stepped out of our traditional comfort zone and invited Marc Reisner to see Sacramento Valley ricelands. Potentially, not the best career move for my colleague Bob Herkert. In fact, I don’t think he told anyone, in case the field trip didn’t go well. You can imagine the tension, as he called the author of the most provocative book on water and the West and invited him to see firsthand the crop he labeled as “a monsoon crop grown in a dessert.” Certainly the future for agricultural and environmental relationships was a dim prospect.

The fights 20 years ago were about the control of resources, in Marc’s case – water. Environmental groups saw themselves as the citizen standing in front of the agriculture “tank” that devastated the landscape. Agriculture saw concerns about species, pollution and resource use as an assault to their very livelihood and even their identity. The accusations were felt at a deeply personal level.

Following these early skirmishes, a number of conservation organizations employed less conflict-generating approaches and set out to purchase agricultural lands to protect them for future generations. The decades that followed saw huge cattle ranches purchased, riparian habitat secured and marginal agricultural lands converted into wetlands. While the exact figure is not published, it is almost certain that upwards of several million acres have been purchased over time in California for protection by dozens of conservation groups and conservancies.

In all honesty, most farmers saw this as only a slightly better option than being told they were the scourges of the earth. There is never a lot of trust for an out of town neighbor. Ask anyone who has married into a farm family and moved to a rural community and they will tell you it can take a lifetime to finally be accepted.

Not surprisingly, these new landowners discovered the same thing landlords have know for generations – it costs a lot of money to keep up property. Especially when it’s not generating much income.

Today a new model is taking hold. One that is far more palatable to farmers and far more workable for conservation groups.  The concept gaining ground today is one of agricultural lands producing crops while being managed at the same time to the benefit of wildlife, water quality and even air quality. This dual use – working agricultural lands producing crops and income while also providing wildlife habitat and open space – meets both conservation groups’ needs as well as addressing agriculture’s needs. Turns out both are financial.

For the last three years, California Rice has been partnering with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and some new conservation partners like Audubon, PRBO Conservation Sciences and renewing relationships with The Nature Conservancy to develop a working lands program for rice. Sound science on the needs of shorebirds and other waterbirds combined with doable practices in a rice field are beginning to yield promising results. The Waterbird Habitat Enhancement Program, or WHEP, is in my mind the future of conservation programs. The conservation groups get the habitat they need without having to buy, restore and maintain land and farmers get reasonable payment for the environment services they provide. The question is can they be successful? Well, in two years over 100,000 acres of rice have signed up and over $9 million contracted. This is for a 100 percent voluntary program.

Twenty years ago a daring colleague took that first step that opened a dialogue with someone we would never talk to given a choice. Today we are sitting down with NRCS and conservation groups to take a fresh look at existing farm bill conservation programs.  As a result, NRCS has worked with rice and these bird conservation groups to roll out WHEP in a manner that works well for the environment and our farmers. We not only welcome the dialogue, we welcome the biologists on to our farms to evaluate the effectiveness of the new things we are doing on our fields for diminutive species of shorebirds. Just like the conversation with Marc Reisner decades ago, reasonable people who are honest are able to find common ground, in our case 500,000 acres of it. If this isn’t a bright future for collaborative agriculture and environmental partnerships, I’m not sure you’ll ever find one.

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Tim Johnson, CRC President & CEO

New video- Making a home for Wildlife

Rice grower Tom Butler of Robbins describes some of the steps taken to create wildlife habitat in the Sacramento Valley.

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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.

NRCS WHEP Summary & Application Information

The purpose of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is to promote agricultural production, forest management, and environmental quality as compatible goals; optimize environmental benefits; and help farmers and ranchers meet Federal, State, Tribal, and local environmental regulations.

Click here to learn more.

Poem by Phil Robertson: Mouse's Eye View

Click here to download the latest poem by Phil Robertson

New Blog- Generations

When talking about rice farming operations many times the word “family” comes up.  This is because in many operations there are multiple generations involved with the farm.  My family’s rice farming started back in the late 1940’s when my great-grandfather Bus planted rice on ground in South Sutter County. We are still planting rice on that ground today.  My grandfather Burton took over the family farm and at 87 years old is still involved with it now.  My dad Alan currently runs the farm, while I work for Farmers’ Rice Cooperative.

The hope is that the farm despite stringent regulations can be sustained so that future generations will have the opportunity to continue the family rice farming operation.  For many farming families, and ours is no different, farming is not just a job but also a way of life.

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Brice is the fourth generation from his family to be involved in the California rice industry. He is a graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and is currently a Field Representative for Farmers’ Rice Cooperative. Brice is an active member of the USA Rice Leadership Development Program. He and his wife, Leslie, have three wonderful children, Brynn, Blake, and Cole. In his spare time, Brice enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf and basketball, and coaching his kids' sports teams.

New Guest Blog- California Rice Farmers featured on nationwide television

By Jason Shoultz, Producer/Reporter America’s Heartland

Our crews travel across the country to find interesting people and stories about American agriculture.  From Florida grapefruit to soybeans in Iowa, America's Heartland covers it all.  I've even traveled overseas to North Africa and China to explore international grain trade. But sometimes great stories are just down the road a few miles! 

America's Heartland is produced by KVIE Public Television in Sacramento and we're quite familiar with the rich agriculture in our area.  The nationally-broadcast program actually grew out of our successful California Heartland series that highlighted California agriculture.  So I knew there was a great story to tell about the wildlife that call this area home and the habitat they find in rice fields. 

With the help of Jim Morris and the California Rice Commission I set out to capture some of that beauty. Television is a visual medium so we needed to get up in the air to shoot from above.  Rice farmer Harry Fredericks from Woodland helped us with that task.  He piloted his helicopter over rice fields in the Sacramento Valley and the Yolo Causeway.  The images were amazing. We saw birds, ducks and even deer!

We also worked with California's Central Valley Bird Club, visiting Mike DeWit's rice farm north of Sacramento. The sun was setting and the Black-crowned Night Herons and Snowy Egrets were on full display. It was a picture-perfect scene.  Here’s a shot of Martin Christian and Tyler Bastine in the field during the shoot.

I know our viewers are going to enjoy this story.  It's the story of the commitment to wildlife that rice farmers have through their management practices.  Our viewers want to know what farmers and ranchers are doing to protect the environment and live in harmony with their neighbors. 

The segment will be a part of episode 819, which airs on KVIE January 23rd at 7:30pm.  It will also be online at americasheartland.org and on our YouTube page.

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Jason Shoultz is a Producer/Reporter with the PBS television program America’s Heartland. Follow him on Twitter at: @jasonshoultz.   Be sure to watch their upcoming feature story on California rice and sake, debuting Wednesday, February 1.  For more information on the show, follow them on Twitter at: @aheartland or on the Internet at: www.americasheartland.org.

Armstrong & Getty and the Long-billed Curlew

Radio hosts Armstrong & Getty show off a Long-billed Curlew, one of nearly 230 wildlife species that thrive in California rice fields. 

Gregory Kondos on Rice Country

Famed landscape artist Gregory Kondos comments on the beauty of the Sacramento Valley rice fields.

New CRC Blog- Fresh look at Rice Country

By Jim Morris

As time and circumstances permit, we at the Rice Commission provide tours to media, Legislators and other decision makers interested in viewing rice country firsthand.

It never fails that when I assist with a tour that I glean some new information. Seeing the rice fields through the perspective of our guests provides renewed respect for this crop and the people that grow and mill it.

The latest tour involved Elizabeth Shelton, Senior Legislative Assistant with Congressman John Garamendi.  Our visit to the Farmers’ Rice Cooperative Mill in West Sacramento brought home the level of automation and sophistication found in California rice. Seeing robotic machinery in action is a pretty cool experience.  It was also interesting to see the international nature of the business, as a substantial order to South Korea was being milled during our visit.

Next stop was DeWit Farms in Elverta, where the fields were full of wildlife.  Our tour guide, grower Mike DeWit, navigated us next to the fields with his ATV.

We saw hundreds if not thousands of birds.  Dunlins, Black-necked Stilts, Snow Geese, Harriers and Ducks to name a few.  Both Liz and I learned that rice growers have winter water levels at different depths depending on the bird species they are helping.

Our goodbyes included some welcome attention to Mike’s Labrador Retrievers, including Holly, who is as sweet as she looks.

As Elizabeth departed back to Washington, D.C., my hope was that she will remember her brief trip to rice country and her visit with the people that make it happen.

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Jim Morris is Communications Manager for the California Rice Commission. Jim has worked in communications for more than 20 years. When he’s not on the job, he enjoys his family, faith, football, outrageous monster stories and running marathons.

New Blog- Wintertime for this rice farmer

Winter is a nice respite from the hectic pace of the growing season.  Everyone at the farm is finally able to catch a few deep breaths, we work shorter hours while still getting done what needs to.  In our farm shop we are building new equipment for the spring and repairing and maintaining the rest of the old equipment on shorter hours.   I attend a lot of meetings.  Industry meetings, landlord meetings, bank meetings, water meetings, too many meetings for my liking.

The best part of the slower winter pace is having more time for fun family things- that included a great Christmas and New Year’s celebration with friends and family. 

 My wife Melissa’s family has a long tradition of butchering and making pork sausage stemming from their strong German heritage. 

We all come together and spend the day cutting meat, grinding, seasoning, stuffing, and hanging the sausage for smoking.  We enjoy it all year long.

Many rice farmers enjoy spending time in the duck blind.  Prior to having my wife and I starting our family, I definitely considered myself part of that crowd.  A young family and busy schedule take precedence however, and my time in the blind was reduced to just about one day a year.  That changed last February when my son Gus took and passed the hunter’s safety test. 

Taking him hunting, teaching him the way my father taught me, and sharing in his new experiences.  It also has the added benefit of increasing my blind time fivefold.

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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