How is Rice Grown at Lundberg Family Farms?
How is rice grown? We visited rice farmers Brita and Bryce Lundberg to learn more about their organic and regenerative rice farm in Richvale, California.
At Lundberg Family Farms, the way rice is grown matters. When the family first arrived in Richvale – back in 1937 -they brought with them a new farming philosophy: “leave the land better than you found it.” Almost 100 years later, Lundberg Family Farms has stayed true to that purpose. In the process, they’ve embraced organic and regenerative farming techniques that prioritize soil health and protect the local ecosystem. Let’s take a closer look at how rice is grown at Lundberg Family Farms!
Why organic farming matters
For the Lundberg family, caring for the land is about more than simply following a set of farming practices. It’s about ensuring the farm remains healthy and productive for generations to come. Lundberg Family Farms has been certified organic for over 50 years, and even helped create California Certified Organic Farmers, the state’s primary organic certification. After researching the tenets of organic farming, the family quickly discovered that organic practices aligned closely with their own goal of leaving the land better than they found it.
In 2023, Lundberg became the first American rice grower to achieve Regenerative Organic Certification. This certification requires an additional level of commitment to soil health, animal welfare and social fairness. Brita Lundberg explains, “What you get is this really beautiful, holistic certification that recognizes the interconnectedness of everything. That the way that we grow food also impacts the ecosystems and the communities in and around our rice fields.”
Lundberg Family Farms grows 17 different varieties of rice. A few examples include short-grain brown rice, sushi rice, Arborio, Jasmine, Basmati, long-grain, Black Pearl and Red Jasmine. If you’re a fan of Lundberg’s wild rice, you might have noticed it’s missing from the list. That’s because wild rice is not actually a rice – it’s a marshgrass seed.
Great rice starts in the field
Great rice starts in the field. Lundberg Family Farms is constantly looking for ways to improve both the rice itself and the way it’s grown. Each year, the farm trials thousands of new rice varieties in its test fields, evaluating how well they perform within the parameters of Lundberg’s regenerative organic farming practices.
“The goal isn’t more varieties of rice, although we find some pretty cool things in the field,” Brita admits. “Our goal is better flavor, better aroma, more consistent cook-up, but also better performance in the field – so that we can produce more rice with the same amount of resources.”
Citing a recent success story, Brita continues, “We’ve set a goal to increase the yield for every variety that comes out of our nursery by at least 10%. Our most recent variety of Black Pearl has a 25% higher yield than the previous Black Pearl variety, which we’re very excited about.”
How is rice grown organically at Lundberg Family Farms?
Growing rice is a delicate dance of life and death. Each step is a balancing act—applying just enough stress to control weeds, then quickly pulling those stressors back before the rice is pushed too far. From planting in the spring through winter crop rotation, there’s always something happening in the rice fields.
Prep the fields
In California, rice is planted in the springtime. Before planting begins, the farm team uses high-tech equipment to ensure that the fields are “super level”.
During the growing process, the fields are flooded to precise levels, using water to eliminate weeds without killing the surrounding rice plants. Brita explains, “The degree to which we can manage water precisely is the same degree to which we can manage those weeds precisely.
Once the fields are precisely leveled, they are flooded with a few inches of water. This process can take days. Then, the field is seeded via airplane. The rice seeds are presoaked to ensure they don’t float on the surface, allowing them to settle in the furrowed soil and take root.
Deep water: Keep the rice, drown the weeds
Water management plays an incredibly important role in rice production. The rice seedlings sprout within a few days – but grass weeds quickly follow. As an organic grower, Lundberg forsakes herbicides and deals with weeds the all-natural way – using water. It’s a bit of a balancing act. The water level needs to be high enough to drown out the grass weeds, but not so high that the rice can’t survive.
During this time, the farm team slides into their trusty set of hipwaders to inspect the young plants twice daily – a process called “reading the leaves”. Once the rice plant’s fourth leaves make their way past the surface of the water and the aquatic leaves have begun to emerge, the fields are drained. Remaining water is funneled back into nearby waterways.
“California rice is actually a lot more water efficient than people realize. The difference is that the water is sitting on top of the soil instead of disappearing into it. Twenty percent of the water used to grow rice gets recycled, flowing to neighboring farms to help irrigate other crops and returning to rivers and streams, and ultimately, back to the environment.” – Brita Lundberg
Dry up: Keep the rice, dry out the aquatic weeds
Weed management is one of the biggest challenges for organic rice growers. The aquatic weeds entwine themselves with the rice plants, preventing them from standing upright. In this instance, lack of water is the preferred form of weed management. Once the fields dry out, the aquatic weeds are unable to thrive and simply shrivel away.
The farm team keeps a close eye on the process. Once again, it’s a delicate balance: drying out the fields enough to kill the weeds pushes the rice plants close to the edge, too. As soon as the aquatic weeds release their grip on the young rice plants, the fields are reflooded – bringing the rice back to life.
Brita expands, “We essentially almost kill it twice in the name of not using chemicals. Most of our neighbors are flying on a chemical herbicide to kill the grass weeds and another one to kill the aquatic weeds. We’re managing weeds with water.”
Watch and wait
After the deep-water and dry-up stages, the rice enters the reproductive stage. The plants begin producing golden panicles, which slowly fill with a milky substance. Brita notes that the panicles are a key indicator of when the rice is ready to harvest. “At first, it’ll stand straight up, but as the grains start to fill, they will tip.”
Once the panicles begin to tip, the team collects samples from the field and tests the moisture level of the grain. “We want to harvest at the optimal moisture level for each variety to make sure that it mills perfectly.”
How is rice harvested?
When the rice is ready to harvest, the team uses a special tractor called a combine. Brita says, “They’re called that because they combine cutting and threshing. It will cut the rice, separate the grains from the rest of the plant, and leave the rice straw behind.”
As the combine fills, the resulting rice grains are transferred to a bank-out wagon. Then, the rice is transported by truck to Lundberg’s drying and storage facility.
In California, rice is harvested between September and Thanksgiving (according to the Lundbergs), depending on the variety and weather conditions.
What happens after rice harvest?
Once the harvested rice arrives at the drying and storage facility, the team ensures that the product meets Lundberg’s high standards. The optimal moisture content is confirmed, and the rice is checked for field debris.
Then, the grains of rice are slowly dried using column dryers. Brita states, “We force hot air through the silos, which helps dry the rice and get it to a point where it is stable and can be stored in the mill calls. Then it’s milled to order.”
How to store rice
Rice should be stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. When stored properly, rice has a shelf life of about a year. Check the best-by date on the packaging to ensure the highest quality product.
If you use rice less frequently, Brita suggests storing rice in the freezer. This preserves peak freshness and flavor while extending the life of the rice.
Restoring the land: Cover crops
After harvest, the remaining rice straw is worked back into the soil. During the winter, the team at Lundberg Family Farms grows cover crops, including oats and fava beans, to improve soil health and prevent soil erosion. “We’re not harvesting the cover crops,” Brita explains. “Instead we mow them, and we get all that green juice for the ground into the soil.”
Protecting local waterfowl
One of the tenets of regenerative farming is conserving local ecosystems – and that’s a responsibility that the Lundberg Family takes very seriously. Before the cover crops are mowed to the ground, Lundberg partners with California Waterfowl Association to search the fields for nests. Any eggs are hand-rescued and carefully transported to a nearby hatchery. There, the eggs are incubated, then hatched and raised.
When the young birds are about five weeks old, they’re ready to venture out into the big wide world. “They’re released back into the wild, often right back into rice fields, which are perfect habitat for them.” She pauses and reflects, “Just not when we’re out here driving around on tractors.”
Waterfowl aren’t the only creatures that thrive in the rice fields. Brita states, “The California Rice Commission has found that more than 220 species depend on rice fields. That’s everything from the dragonflies you see zooming around us to ducks, geese, swans, sandhill cranes, turtles and crawdads.”
For this reason, Lundberg floods a portion of their fields each winter to replicate California’s natural wetlands, providing habitat for many species that have lost their homes due to commercial and residential development. Brita smiles, “It’s a win-win partnership with nature.”
Learn more about Lundberg Family Farms!
Visit Lundberg Family Farms
If you’re interested in learning more about how rice is grown at Lundberg Farms, Brita invites you to visit Lundberg’s farm store in Richvale. She states, “If you’re driving north of Sacramento and you see lush green rice fields in the summer or maybe fields filled with water and birds in the winter, you’re probably looking at rice fields. You might wanna stop by our store on the farm in Richvale, California, to try some rice for yourself and maybe even get an up-close and personal look at the way that we grow, dry, store, mill, and pack the rice right here on the farm.”
The farm store is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 am- 5:00 pm. Email [email protected] to request a farm tour or schedule a field trip.
Article by Hilary Rance. Photography by James Collier and Hilary Rance.