Cuisine
Environment

Table of Contents

Environmental & Conservation Balance Sheet for The California Rice Industry

Chapter 8: Balance Sheet Ratings

This chapter presents the balance sheet summary of Chapters 1 through 7, which treat environmental and conservation values of rice farming in greater detail. The evaluations were made as follows:

  1. Points at which rice farming can influence the environment were inventoried. The influence of rice farming activities as presented and described in Chapter 1 on the environmental values discussed in Chapters 1 through 7 was described and scored, as shown in Table 8-1.

  2. For each environmental value, the performance of the industry associated with each rice farming activity was considered relative to other feasible land uses, principally other agricultural uses and urban development of some kind. In the absence of rice farming, the land, water, energy, and other resources would be dedicated to competing uses. The feasibility and environmental consequences of such a reallocation are discussed, but a detailed prediction of conditions in the Sacramento Valley region in the absence of rice farming is beyond the scope of this analysis.

  3. For each environmental value and farming activity, the performance of the rice industry was evaluated in three ways:

    • Current (Industry performance to date)

    • Trends (Anticipated industry performance in the year 2001)

    • Investment (Industry investment in improved stewardship)

  4. Scores were assigned to reflect the environmental performance associated with each activity for each environmental value as follows:

    • The sign of the score (negative or positive) indicates the type of performance. A negative number indicates less- than-neutral performance, zero indicates net neutral performance, and a positive number indicates a greater-than- neutral performance.

    • The strength of performance was scored in accordance with the information presented in the chapters. Scores were assigned from zero to five, with zero being a neutral effect and five being the strongest effect.

    • Under each environmental category, the average of non- zero scores was calculated for each group of activities (e.g., land preparation), and overall.

    • Justification for the scoring is summarized in the conclusions sections of Chapters 1 through 7. More detailed justification of the assigned ratings is provided in the main body of Chapters 1 through 7.