By Paul Buttner

As the Manager of Environmental Affairs for the California Rice Commission (CRC), I was humbled to stand with our President & CEO Tim Johnson to accept the 2013 Partner of the Year Award from the Central Valley Joint Venture (CVJV) on behalf of the rice growers of California. 

The CVJV (www.cvjv.org) is a collaborative group of highly respected conservation organizations committed to enhancing habitat values for birds and other wildlife species in the Central Valley.  The current CVJV Vice Chairman, John Carlon of River Partners, and Coordinator, Bob Shaffer, presented us with the distinguished award.


I was truly honored with this recognition from the CVJV.  In his presentation, Bob Shaffer talked about their long history with rice growers all the way back to the industry’s phase-down of rice straw burning and replacement of that practice with winter flooding.  Much of this collaborative work pre-dates my tenure at CRC, which began in 2001.   Since then so much has been accomplished to help increase habitat values in rice, a subject matter I have grown extremely passionate about.

We are now three years into a new program called the Waterbird Habitat Enhancement Program (WHEP) that supports the implementation of innovative new approaches to habitat enhancement in ricelands.  It is now implemented on nearly 25 percent of rice acres (about 115,000 acres) thanks to the dedication and assistance of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and ongoing technical assistance from organizations like Audubon California, PRBO Conservation Science and the Nature Conservancy.  Each of these three partners helps make up the broader membership of the CVJV.  The CVJV has been solidly behind rice every step of the way towards greater habitat enhancement and I’m very pleased to have the CVJV’s support and recognition for the CRC’s ongoing commitment to habitat enhancement on its working ricelands.

The ongoing coordinating force of the CVJV certainly helps move the ball forward on wildlife conservation projects and awareness of the importance of this great Central Valley for millions of birds that reply upon it.  We are honored to be considered one of its valued partners in these efforts.

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By Tim Johnson

Every five years the leaders of our country have a discussion on farm policy. In large part the debate is healthy, though, sometimes to make a point, arguments get off track. In the upcoming weeks and months you will hear both good arguments and ones that stray a bit far afield.

One of the most basic questions is why a farm bill is necessary in such a well–fed nation. The reality is that our nation is the place of both expanding belt lines and one where many struggle daily to put food on the table – especially high quality fruits, vegetables and grains. The farm bill steps in here in a big way, providing support through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program or SNAP.

In 2012, the program provided support for 46 million Americans according to the USDA. SNAP is the largest program area in the farm bill with nutrition programs (including a number of school food programs) accounting for 78 percent of all spending in the same year.

The reality is that these programs have been expanding. But then so has need in this lengthy recession. When there is need, we are proud to be a generous people.

The second question in the farm bill debate involves farm spending.  Farm programs were designed to keep farmers on the land when times got tough. We call it a safety net. Over the years that safety net has taken many different forms, the most recent of which were dictated by international trade agreements such as the WTO, which required farmers to be eligible for payments even if they didn’t grow a crop. This was never a farmer’s idea.

In the upcoming farm bill, there will be many reforms in how farmers are supported. Many of the changes are driven by honest questions about how to support farmers when they need it but not send them a check every year simply because they grow a commodity.

This time around the safety net for farmers will be programs that only kick in when prices drop below the cost of production - the idea being to keep the farmer on the farm during the tough times. There are also incentives for farmers to buy crop insurance for greater protection. This approach to a safety net makes sense.

So, when you start hearing about ‘food stamp this’ and ‘rich farmer that,’ keep these facts in mind and you will be able to keep it all in the appropriate perspective.

Incidentally, payments to farmers only account for a little over six percent of total farm bill spending.

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Grower Peter Rystrom discusses progress on the 2013 rice planting, including participation in a special wildlife program.

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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.

By Jim Morris

Drive through the Sacramento Valley these days and you very likely will see and hear airplanes seeding more than a half million acres of rice. I was able to witness an entirely different seeding method at the Rice Experiment Station in Biggs, which has provided growers with important research and varieties for a century.

The Experiment Station works with so many varieties in a relatively compact space that aerial seeding is out of the question. The closest thing that mimics the aerial seeding process is seeding by hand. With 40,000 different breeding lines this is no easy feat!

For more than 30 years, extra help in the form of skilled workers of Sikh descent have worked with researchers at the station to plant millions of seeds. The entire process takes a little more than a week and is fascinating to watch.

One of the starting steps is illustrated here by Baldish Deol, as seeds are soaked and carefully loaded into vials.

These seeds are planted one vial at a time in their specific part of the field- 60,000 rows in all!


Each vial has about 100 seeds, which represents one head of rice.

In addition there are 1,500 large plots, also planted with extreme care and by hand.



This work happens during an intense five-day period and is done with little outside attention but is part of the foundation of research that has helped this industry maintain its status as a reliable producer of premium quality rice.

Spring seeding is just one way the Rice Experiment Station maintains its role as an invaluable part of California rice production.  It’s a job where patience is a virtue, as it takes about a decade for a new rice variety to go from its first planting to commercial use.

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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 marathon

Curveballs. They're great in baseball but nerve wracking in rice farming!  I had a big one thrown at me the other day.  This spring had been pleasant enough apart from all the north wind.  The ground dried out early and our "leisurely" pace is a pleasant respite from the frenetic pace of the last two years, at least until the other day.

Here is my rice roller in action- happily applying both base and starter fertilizers in one final pass across the fields before flood up and seeding.


The quadtrac seen above is an older tractor that is well suited to for this purpose, or was well suited rather.  Within hours of this photo being taken a piston in its engine seized.  What do I do now?  I did not have another tractor to take its place so on the phone I went.  Do I rent a replacement for two weeks while I fix this old tractor?  Should I fix the quadtrac? Will I get the money invested in an old tractor back? Do I buy a new one? Not in this market! What's available in the used tractor market that will work?  What does the banker think? 

To answer all those questions and get back to rolling in the field took almost three days.  Answering the questions and negotiating a deal for a used replacement tractor took a day and a half.  Transferring all the GPS equipment and software was another day and a bit but we are up and going finally. Curveball managed!

Here is a photo of the old quadtrac with oil on the hood from the blown engine after being towed out of the field and its replacement getting started in the background. 


Keep plowing ahead.

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Read more about Sean in Rice Farming magazine

Chair of the California Air Resources Board Mary Nichols provides comments after touring a Sacramento Valley rice farm.

Rice grower Tom Butler of Robbins says despite some delays due to strong winds, this planting season is well ahead of recent years.

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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.

We are ahead of schedule for this rice season; a welcome change from recent years when spring rains brought delays.   I'm almost complete preparing my rice fields.  The water will be going on soon and airplanes should carry out the seeding process in a matter of days.  There already have been some airplanes flying seed around Richvale so my neighbors are on a good schedule as well.

Winds have proven a bit challenging in recent days.  They can be helpful for drying out the ground but we have had some gusty winds that can delay some of our work.

All in all things have started well this year.  This earlier start is a big help. Late plantings like we have had in recent years leads to the risk of not as much yield during the fall harvest.

This will be my seventy-second consecutive rice crop, something I derive a lot of satisfaction from.

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Dennis Lindberg has grown rice in Butte County for more than 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.

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Conservation Project Director Monica Igelcia with Audubon California comments on work by rice farmers to improve wildlife habitat on the farm.

Radio personalities Armstrong & Getty comment on the use of airplanes in planting rice in the Sacramento Valley each spring.

By Jim Morris

Many areas have that “go to” location. First-timers to San Francisco often seek out the Golden Gate Bridge. When in Anaheim, one must don mouse ears.  Neophytes to Los Angeles crane their necks on the 101 looking for the Hollywood sign.  Perhaps the most iconic natural feature of our Sacramento Valley is something commonly seen but rarely experienced- the Sutter Buttes.

This smallest mountain range in the world was the result of a volcanic uprising more than one million years ago. This circular, castle-shaped mountain range in Sutter County is 10 miles across from any point and can be seen throughout much of the central Sacramento Valley.

After spending my entire life in the valley and taking tons of photos of the Buttes, it was time to get up close and personal with this icon.  If you want to do the same it takes some planning.

Noted Outdoor Columnist Tom Steinstra with the San Francisco Chronicle said it well that the Buttes are “one of California’s last off-limits lands of secrets and mysteries.” The vast majority of this unique landscape is privately owned. State Parks acquired almost 1,800 acres deep within the Buttes, behind private rangelands and orchards. The park grounds are not yet open to the public. Your way to view the Buttes up close is through more than 30 hikes and other projects facilitated by the Middle Mountain Foundation, a non-profit group aimed at education and preserving this marvel of nature. The cost is $35-45 per person, depending on the event.  There’s a sign up period and reservations fill up fast.  Be sure to wear your hiking boots and bring plenty of water and lunch as this a genuine outdoor adventure.

Wife Leslie, son RJ and myself started our wildflower hike experience by meeting fellow hikers at Waffle Shop in Live Oak (note to self, return to Waffle Shop for a future breakfast). Our group caravanned to Shaeffer Ranch.   Our guide for the day was Ty Shaeffer, whose family settled on the land in 1860. They farm almonds, lease land for cattle grazing and derive some of their livelihood from guided hikes.

The region’s volcanic past was unmistakable as we set out, as a wide array of rocks dominated the landscape.


Ty has named many of the more prominent rocks, including this he calls the Sentinel, which looks like a Roman Guard.


The recent rainfall helped perk up the wildflower populations and there were some marvelous sights along the trail.

Ty says there are likely 100 or more different types of flora and fauna in the region. Flowers include Monkey Flower, Manroot, Douglas’s Violet, Lobb’s Poppy and Bird’s Eye Gilia to name a few.

Animals include a healthy lizard population, kept on their toes by RJ’s unfulfilled mission to capture one. There are also raptors, woodpeckers and an estimated 2 to 3,000 feral pigs that are rototilling the natural environment.  We didn’t see any of those brutes, except for this unfortunate swine that ran into something higher on the food chain.


One of the interesting anecdotes of the day was the Cold War remnant of the region. In 1963, a missile silo complex was built at the base of the Buttes that housed three Titan I ICBM missiles. The site was decommissioned and dismantled in 1965. 

Just like with the food production and wildlife habitat derived from area rice fields, it was nice to see there were multiple, harmonious uses for the land – farming interwoven with tourism and environmental protection.


As we wrapped up our five-mile hike, tired yet satisfied, we finished with a deeper appreciation for the Buttes and the passionate people working to protect them for future generations.

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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 marathon

By Roberta Firoved

No longer is the term crop duster acceptable in referring to the professionals who apply crop protection materials from airplanes. The term was coined over eighty years ago when airplanes used dusting materials.  Today, the technology has greatly evolved with highly specialized aircraft that use Global Positioning System (GPS) software, dispersal systems monitoring flow rates and calibration software.

In California, rice is grown mostly in the nine contiguous counties just north of Sacramento. Rice acreage accounts for approximately 500,000 of the over two million acres dedicated to farmland in this area. With rice grown in proximity to other crops, product stewardship is vital for maintaining crop protection materials. The California rice industry has taken proactive and protective measures to ensure positive stewardship for pesticide applications.

The term “California rice industry” extends beyond the farmers, millers and rice commission. Our stakeholders include a broad array of companies, businesses regulators and researchers. We give credit to two companies for implementing a novel approach to product stewardship.

Dow AgroSciences and Valent U.S.A. Corporation introduced preseason airplane calibration to the stewardship portfolio. The program utilizes support from the California Agricultural Aircraft Association (CAAA) and the expertise of Dick Stoltz who is certified to do airplane calibration. CAAA owns the software technology utilized to measure droplet deposition from the aircraft. The software for determining droplet deposition is the same used in the bakery industry as quality control for counting holes in bread. The droplet deposition results show where to adjust the calibration, or whether the boom and nozzle placement should be changed. Any airplane not meeting certification requirements must make adjustments, be recalibrated and retested.


This level of airplane calibration is novel to the Sacramento Valley. At first, airplane calibration was not popular among aerial applicators. It was as if they were signaled out. Now, the aerial applicators look forward to airplane calibration because it assures an additional level of quality control. From the success of the airplane calibration, other programs have evolved such as ground rig stewardship for the use of select crop protection materials.

Airplane calibration is just one piece of the process to assuring positive stewardship when applying crop protection materials by air. It is a complex process to set-up the airfield for the calibration exercises. Wind gauges are used and the droplet deposition cards must be readjusted if conditions change. The airplane lands for inspection and filling with a blank formulation of the product. Pilots make a few passes next to the airstrip. The ground crew signals all conditions are positive and the pilot makes a pass over the string and blocks holding the deposition cards to the ground.

Once the airplane makes a pass over the cards, the ground crew waves a flag if the droplets appear. The process allows the pilot to return home without landing the airplane again. With a tip of the wing, the pilot takes the newly calibrated airplane back to the home hanger for another rice season.

The agricultural aerial applicators have the benefit of loving what they do, and doing what they love. Yes they deal with the elements, customers and long hours, but they are there every year providing great benefit to farmers – and ultimately consumers too.

Watch an airplane in action during the testing:

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Roberta Firoved is Industry Affairs Manager for the California Rice Commission.

Lauren LaGrande comments on upcoming activities in Maxwell, a rice farming community in Colusa County.

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Lauren LaGrande is the latest in a family farming tradition that began nearly 100 years ago. She is a student at Maxwell High School and is active in FFA, Future Business Leaders of America, volleyball, basketball and softball. When she’s on the farm, you’ll often see her with her trusted companion, Hank, the family dog. Lauren’s great-grandfather grew his first rice crop in the Sacramento Valley in 1916 and the family has continued this tradition ever since.

Rice grower Brian Barrett describes some new steps he is taking to help shorebird habitat on his farm.

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Brian Barrett is a third generation rice farmer from Maxwell. Upon graduation from California State University Chico with a degree in Agricultural Business, Brian worked briefly for Farmer's Rice Cooperative before going on to work as a Grain Merchandiser for ADM Rice. While working for ADM rice Brian took night classes and earned his Masters in Business Administration at the University of Phoenix, graduating with honors.

Grower Punch Haskell comments on the earlier start to preparation of Sacramento Valley rice fields.

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Punch Haskell grows rice in Colusa County and is part of a family farming operation that began approximately 60 years ago.

By Jim Morris

My job provides plenty of visits to rice farms and one of the things I enjoy most is observing the diversity of wildlife.  Whether it’s a flock of Snow Geese, a romp of River Otters or a Giant Garter Snake slithering by, the variety of critters that rely on rice continually amazes me.

I was reminded of this while in a field at Keith Davis’ farm in Yuba County. This particular field had grown many rice crops and is now part of the Waterbird Habitat Enhancement Program, where it will be used as a cold water check with shorebird nesting islands.


Walking around I began to notice that this ground was a regular wildlife highway. The first tracks I spotted were from a deer.


I also spotted plenty of these raccoon tracks, which are fascinating to look at and to me seemed to convey some of their mischievous nature.


There were even cow tracks, likely from a curious bovine that trotted over from its nearby grazing area. 

There were tracks heading all over the place. There were probably many more there that someone well versed on the outdoors could probably have identified. Nevertheless this was another reminder of how rice farms not only provide food for our dinner tables but invaluable habitat for hundreds of wildlife species.

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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 marathon

Acting Chief of the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service Jason Weller visited California rice country and provided these comments about rice growers helping wildlife.

An early spring.

For the past three years, every rice grower in the Valley has remembered it, hoped for it, and eventually adapted to life without it.  It tempted us each time, temperate weather late in February and March, only for the rains to come, compress our season, and force us to hope for an unlikely dry autumn.

But fortunately, 2013 has proved to be one of the nicest springs I can remember, something I find fitting as I begin to prepare for my tenth rice crop.  All of a sudden, things that usually are included in the spring program, but have been left aside due to expediency are being done.  And perhaps most importantly, our most important tools are given the chance to do their job as they were designed. 

As the state of California grows, as does the demand for water.  It is very critical that rice fields get the best use of what water it does use.  The evolution of leveling fields has been a boon in achieving this.

I still remember my first few years in the summer, taking the "old" laser leveling technology into fields we had rotated out for winter crops for the express purpose of leveling them for the coming years.  I see the new GPS technology that is efficient to use in the spring before planting, and often one thought still creeps into my mind....I wish I had paid more attention in Geometry!


But, we have the opportunity to actually use them as much as we need to this year, instead of settling for "close enough." It’s a welcome change.

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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.

Growers throughout the Sacramento Valley are preparing for the upcoming season. 

Mike Daddow comments on getting equipment in the field:



He also comments on the first steps growers take before planting the crop:
 

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Mike Daddow ~ Farming in Sutter and Yolo Counties, Mike is the fourth generation of his family to grow rice in California. His great grandfather served as an engineer in Natomas and is credited with helping lay out the irrigation system for the region. Mike graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with two Bachelor of Science Degrees. He and his wife Susan have three boys – Max, Sam and Alex - who all help out on the farm when they can. When he isn’t growing rice, Mike puts his pilot’s license to good use.