Sacramento Valley agriculture is
getting more respect for its contributions –
encouraging news to California Rice
Commission President and CEO Tim Johnson.Read his blog
Friday, August 30, 2013
New CRC Blog- Thirty-Nine
Sacramento Valley agriculture is
getting more respect for its contributions –
encouraging news to California Rice
Commission President and CEO Tim Johnson.Read his blog
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
New CRC Blog- Our authentic valley
The California Rice Commission's Jim Morris comments on one of the hardworking towns in the Sacramento Valley.
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 marathon
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 marathon
Monday, August 19, 2013
New Blog- The Million Dollar Question
It was a fast, eventful two months for California Rice Commission Intern Maddie Dunlap, who provides her final post.Read her blog
Friday, August 16, 2013
New CRC Blog- Rice Field Identification
California Rice Commission President & CEO Tim Johnson explains what a red flag in a rice field means.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
New Blog- Historic Cover-up
Learn more
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
New CRC Blog- A memorable last stand
Learn the colorful history of a Sacramento Valley restaurant. Jim Morris explains how this restaurant is like no other in the state.
Read his blog
Read his blog
Monday, August 5, 2013
New Blog- Learning the Lingo
By Maddie Dunlap
Rice tipping?? No, not cow tipping, rice tipping. Growing up in Maxwell around agriculture I speak farmer pretty well, but working at the California Rice Commission I’ve learned a few new terms. Last week on a media tour at Steve and Tom Butler’s rice farm I picked up some of the lingo.
The rice has “tipped” when the grains at the top of the rice plant begin to become fully developed and add weight. This puts extra stress on the supporting piece of the plant and the plant begins to bend, or “tip”. Farmers use this stage in maturation as an indicator that harvest is near and the fields are almost ready to be drained. It is said that when a field is “two-thirds tipped” the water should be drained.
How do you know if the field is two-thirds tipped? Good question. The keen eye of the farmer is the only tool that can tell. “If you want to get in a big conversation about nothing, drive around the fields in a truck with your daddy and decide if the rice is two-thirds tipped,” rice grower Steve Butler explained.
In fact at last week’s rice research forum, this very topic came up. Is there a scientific tool that could be developed to measure the readiness of the field? After much debate, it was decided that there were too many variables for such a tool to be developed. Only the observant and experienced farmer can know for sure.
Another grower term I learned was “the rice is headed out.” No, that is not to say that the rice will be uprooting itself and leaving the field. “Heading out” is when the rice grains begin to fill in at the top of the plant.
Hopefully as the plant is heading out, it won’t “blank out.” This phenomenon is caused by a variety of issues during the growing season and results in empty shells of grain. The plant appears to be at maturation, but harvest will leave the farming wanting.
Rice growers will experience some or all of these scenarios as the crop approaches the end of summer and the start of harvest. Next time you drive by a rice field maybe you can decide, is that field two-thirds tipped?
Maddie Dunlap is a senior agricultural communication student with a minor in agribusiness at California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo.
She is the eighth generation of Dunlaps born and raised in Colusa County agriculture.
When Maddie isn’t studying hard at Cal Poly, she enjoys traveling throughout California, Giants baseball and attending county fairs.
Rice tipping?? No, not cow tipping, rice tipping. Growing up in Maxwell around agriculture I speak farmer pretty well, but working at the California Rice Commission I’ve learned a few new terms. Last week on a media tour at Steve and Tom Butler’s rice farm I picked up some of the lingo.
The rice has “tipped” when the grains at the top of the rice plant begin to become fully developed and add weight. This puts extra stress on the supporting piece of the plant and the plant begins to bend, or “tip”. Farmers use this stage in maturation as an indicator that harvest is near and the fields are almost ready to be drained. It is said that when a field is “two-thirds tipped” the water should be drained.
How do you know if the field is two-thirds tipped? Good question. The keen eye of the farmer is the only tool that can tell. “If you want to get in a big conversation about nothing, drive around the fields in a truck with your daddy and decide if the rice is two-thirds tipped,” rice grower Steve Butler explained.
In fact at last week’s rice research forum, this very topic came up. Is there a scientific tool that could be developed to measure the readiness of the field? After much debate, it was decided that there were too many variables for such a tool to be developed. Only the observant and experienced farmer can know for sure.
Another grower term I learned was “the rice is headed out.” No, that is not to say that the rice will be uprooting itself and leaving the field. “Heading out” is when the rice grains begin to fill in at the top of the plant.
Hopefully as the plant is heading out, it won’t “blank out.” This phenomenon is caused by a variety of issues during the growing season and results in empty shells of grain. The plant appears to be at maturation, but harvest will leave the farming wanting.
Rice growers will experience some or all of these scenarios as the crop approaches the end of summer and the start of harvest. Next time you drive by a rice field maybe you can decide, is that field two-thirds tipped?
Maddie Dunlap is a senior agricultural communication student with a minor in agribusiness at California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo. She is the eighth generation of Dunlaps born and raised in Colusa County agriculture.
When Maddie isn’t studying hard at Cal Poly, she enjoys traveling throughout California, Giants baseball and attending county fairs.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Wildlife Species in Focus
View eight colorful brochures that provide details on wildlife species that rely on California rice fields for their habitat.AMERICAN BITTERN
AVOCET/BLACK-NECKED STILT
BALD EAGLE
BLACK TERN
LONG-BILLED CURLEW
GREAT EGRET/SNOWY EGRET
WHITE-FACED IBIS
NORTHERN PINTAIL
Visit our Wildlife page to learn more.
New Blog- Agriculture and Art
By Maddie Dunlap
Before attending a meeting at the Cal EPA building in Sacramento I had the opportunity to tour the building’s eight fabric collage displays. On various floors of the 25-story building, framed art pieces made by Merle Serlin, depicting different scenes of the California landscape can be found. Two members of Cal EPA staff escorted Roberta Firoved, CRC Industry Affairs manager, and myself through the tour.
The first collage on the third floor depicts the see canyon in the Monterey bay area incorporating shades of deep blues, greens and purples.
The second exhibit on the fifth floor depicts the beautiful Central California coastline.
The third display on the eighth floor is an aerial of Delta farmland. The patchwork of the fabric is really representative of the piecing together of the fields in this area tied together by water flowing through the center.
The fourth piece on the twelfth floor is a close up shot of California’s renowned redwoods. The details on this display are perhaps the most spectacular. Several different fabric patterns are utilized to capture the texture and life of these grand and majestic trees.
The fifth fabric collage hangs on the seventeenth floor. This collage was one of my favorites – the rolling foothills of the Central Coast inland. This area is very familiar to me as it surrounds the Cal Poly campus.
The sixth exhibit on the nineteenth floor shows the Joshua Tree National Park.
The seventh display on the twenty-first floor is of beautiful Lake Tahoe. This fabric collage presented a particularly interesting point of view. Instead of an aerial of the large lake, the artist chose to show a close up of some rocks on the edge of the lake. Again, through various fabrics and careful hand stitching, it’s a work of art.
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The final and possibly most grand of the pieces hangs on the twenty-fifth floor. This collage is of breathtaking Mt. Shasta. Another of my favorites, this quilt (see right) looks the most like a painting or picture than any of the eight artworks.
These fabric collages are truly spectacular. The artist used various colors, patterns and textures of fabrics held together with intricate hand threading. Up close one can see the careful detail that that adds to a work of art that looks more like a painting from a distance.
The CRC office also has a quilt by this artist depicting Sacramento Valley rice fields.
An unforeseen opportunity of my internship with CRC has been to experience local cultures of many of the cities and small towns of the Sacramento Valley. It has been my pleasant surprise that agricultural lands have often been the subjects of many of these art displays. Rice country, and agriculture in general truly can be seen in all aspects of Northern California communities.
Maddie Dunlap is a senior agricultural communication student with a minor in agribusiness at California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo.
She is the eighth generation of Dunlaps born and raised in Colusa County agriculture.
When Maddie isn’t studying hard at Cal Poly, she enjoys traveling throughout California, Giants baseball and attending county fairs.
Before attending a meeting at the Cal EPA building in Sacramento I had the opportunity to tour the building’s eight fabric collage displays. On various floors of the 25-story building, framed art pieces made by Merle Serlin, depicting different scenes of the California landscape can be found. Two members of Cal EPA staff escorted Roberta Firoved, CRC Industry Affairs manager, and myself through the tour.
The first collage on the third floor depicts the see canyon in the Monterey bay area incorporating shades of deep blues, greens and purples.
The second exhibit on the fifth floor depicts the beautiful Central California coastline.
The third display on the eighth floor is an aerial of Delta farmland. The patchwork of the fabric is really representative of the piecing together of the fields in this area tied together by water flowing through the center.
The fourth piece on the twelfth floor is a close up shot of California’s renowned redwoods. The details on this display are perhaps the most spectacular. Several different fabric patterns are utilized to capture the texture and life of these grand and majestic trees.
The fifth fabric collage hangs on the seventeenth floor. This collage was one of my favorites – the rolling foothills of the Central Coast inland. This area is very familiar to me as it surrounds the Cal Poly campus.
The sixth exhibit on the nineteenth floor shows the Joshua Tree National Park.
The seventh display on the twenty-first floor is of beautiful Lake Tahoe. This fabric collage presented a particularly interesting point of view. Instead of an aerial of the large lake, the artist chose to show a close up of some rocks on the edge of the lake. Again, through various fabrics and careful hand stitching, it’s a work of art.
.jpg)
The final and possibly most grand of the pieces hangs on the twenty-fifth floor. This collage is of breathtaking Mt. Shasta. Another of my favorites, this quilt (see right) looks the most like a painting or picture than any of the eight artworks. These fabric collages are truly spectacular. The artist used various colors, patterns and textures of fabrics held together with intricate hand threading. Up close one can see the careful detail that that adds to a work of art that looks more like a painting from a distance.
The CRC office also has a quilt by this artist depicting Sacramento Valley rice fields.
An unforeseen opportunity of my internship with CRC has been to experience local cultures of many of the cities and small towns of the Sacramento Valley. It has been my pleasant surprise that agricultural lands have often been the subjects of many of these art displays. Rice country, and agriculture in general truly can be seen in all aspects of Northern California communities.
Maddie Dunlap is a senior agricultural communication student with a minor in agribusiness at California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo. She is the eighth generation of Dunlaps born and raised in Colusa County agriculture.
When Maddie isn’t studying hard at Cal Poly, she enjoys traveling throughout California, Giants baseball and attending county fairs.
Friday, July 26, 2013
New Blog- Tokyo trip yields results
By Chris Crutchfield
Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Tokyo as part of the USA Rice Federation's Asia Technical Working Group. The team is made up of growers, millers, and marketers of California Rice. We work on both technical aspects and trade policy aspects of the trade with our current WTO partners in Asia -- Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
One of the most important and long-standing traditions of the group is the Annual Japan-US Rice Technical Meeting. It takes place between the U.S. team and Japan's Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). MAFF is the Japanese government entity that conducts all of the imports of rice into Japan from all origins, both through Minimum Access and Simultaneous Buy/Sell tenders. MAFF controls the amount and types of rice that reaches the Japanese market as whole kernel (or table rice), as well as the amount that simply goes into the market for processing and/or for feed. In addition to MAFF employees, the Japanese delegation also had representatives from the Japan Grain Importers Association (JGIA), the Wholesalers Association, and two Japanese rice millers.
This meeting was the 16th Annual between our two groups. Over that time period many positive things have been accomplished by accommodating concerns and addressing issues from both sides. Some of the most important for the California Rice Industry have been discontinuing the importation of 100 percent broken rice through the MA tenders, thus allowing more paddy to be consumed in order to meet Japan's minimum import requirements and increasing the voluming and validity length of Pre-shipment Sample Testing for the SBS tenders allowing California premium short grain to compete on a more level playing field with Chinese short grain rice. From the 2012 crop, these items, and others, were responsible for allowing more than 322,000 metric tons of California rice to be exported to Japan -- about 25 percent of the state's production! Additionally, Japan imported more than 17,000 metric tons of California's main crop (Calrose) through the SBS tender system that allows it to be marketed as table rice in Japan. Previously, the most Calrose imported through SBS in a crop year was 1,048 metric tons.
As relationships have grown, the Technical Meeting has taken on a much more positive tone over the last few years. This year was no exception. The importers, wholesalers, and millers all said that they are impressed with the ever-increasing quality of California Rice. This is a testament to our entire industry as the Japanese are some of the most difficult customers to please in the world. As our quality continues to improve, we will continue to move larger quantities of rice through the SBS system, and into the Japanese table rice market. This is very positive for our industry, because that rice is far more valuable and provides much better producer returns than the highly competitive MA tendering process.
There continues to be challenges as well, however. The team was informed that soon MAFF would begin new testing on imported rice for micro toxins and heavy metals. While we are not concerned about California Rice "passing" these tests, anytime new testing is introduced there are always increased costs and the possibility of false positives. We must work together with MAFF to develop a cost effective and scientifically based methodology for these new tests.
Over the past decade and a half, the USA Rice Federation's Asia Technical Working Group has made great strides in improving the quality and value of the Japanese market to the California Rice Industry. I believe this will continue as we move forward in our relationship with California's largest and most important customer.
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.
Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Tokyo as part of the USA Rice Federation's Asia Technical Working Group. The team is made up of growers, millers, and marketers of California Rice. We work on both technical aspects and trade policy aspects of the trade with our current WTO partners in Asia -- Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
One of the most important and long-standing traditions of the group is the Annual Japan-US Rice Technical Meeting. It takes place between the U.S. team and Japan's Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). MAFF is the Japanese government entity that conducts all of the imports of rice into Japan from all origins, both through Minimum Access and Simultaneous Buy/Sell tenders. MAFF controls the amount and types of rice that reaches the Japanese market as whole kernel (or table rice), as well as the amount that simply goes into the market for processing and/or for feed. In addition to MAFF employees, the Japanese delegation also had representatives from the Japan Grain Importers Association (JGIA), the Wholesalers Association, and two Japanese rice millers.
This meeting was the 16th Annual between our two groups. Over that time period many positive things have been accomplished by accommodating concerns and addressing issues from both sides. Some of the most important for the California Rice Industry have been discontinuing the importation of 100 percent broken rice through the MA tenders, thus allowing more paddy to be consumed in order to meet Japan's minimum import requirements and increasing the voluming and validity length of Pre-shipment Sample Testing for the SBS tenders allowing California premium short grain to compete on a more level playing field with Chinese short grain rice. From the 2012 crop, these items, and others, were responsible for allowing more than 322,000 metric tons of California rice to be exported to Japan -- about 25 percent of the state's production! Additionally, Japan imported more than 17,000 metric tons of California's main crop (Calrose) through the SBS tender system that allows it to be marketed as table rice in Japan. Previously, the most Calrose imported through SBS in a crop year was 1,048 metric tons.
As relationships have grown, the Technical Meeting has taken on a much more positive tone over the last few years. This year was no exception. The importers, wholesalers, and millers all said that they are impressed with the ever-increasing quality of California Rice. This is a testament to our entire industry as the Japanese are some of the most difficult customers to please in the world. As our quality continues to improve, we will continue to move larger quantities of rice through the SBS system, and into the Japanese table rice market. This is very positive for our industry, because that rice is far more valuable and provides much better producer returns than the highly competitive MA tendering process.
There continues to be challenges as well, however. The team was informed that soon MAFF would begin new testing on imported rice for micro toxins and heavy metals. While we are not concerned about California Rice "passing" these tests, anytime new testing is introduced there are always increased costs and the possibility of false positives. We must work together with MAFF to develop a cost effective and scientifically based methodology for these new tests.
Over the past decade and a half, the USA Rice Federation's Asia Technical Working Group has made great strides in improving the quality and value of the Japanese market to the California Rice Industry. I believe this will continue as we move forward in our relationship with California's largest and most important customer.
Chris CrutchfieldPresident 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.
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