Lundberg Family Farms

(Children gather duck eggs during Egg Aid 2011)

During the winter, Lundberg Family Farms plants cover crops on the rice fields to help enrich the soil for the following year's rice crop. Cover crops also provide habitat for waterfowl! With this in mind, each spring we invite volunteers from the District 10 Wild Duck Salvage Program to comb the cover crops in search of nests that will be destroyed when farm equipment mows the field. Every other year, we host an event called Egg Aid, during which we invite a local elementary school class to join the volunteers. While this year was not an Egg Aid year, volunteers did collect eggs as usual. Each year, about 2,000 duck eggs are collected from our fields and it is estimated that 30,000 duck eggs have been recovered from Lundberg Fields since 1993!

(Derrold Daly holds a photo of the incubator in the ...

Isn't it something how we can learn from nature? Bryce Lundberg, VP of Agriculture, shows us how the fava bean protects itself from harm.

Want to learn more about cover crops? Bryce Lundberg, VP of Agriculture, talks about his favorite cover crop, the fava bean!

Bryce Lundberg, VP of Agriculture, explains why cover crops are loved by farmers and fields alike!

We are excited to announce that Lundberg Family Farms will be hosting a farm dinner with Outstanding in the Field!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with their events, Outstanding in the Field is a roving culinary adventure - literally a restaurant without walls. Since 1999 they have set their famous long table at farms or gardens, on mountain tops or in sea caves, on islands or at ranches. Occasionally the table is set indoors: a beautiful refurbished barn, a cool greenhouse or a stately museum. Wherever the location, the consistent theme of each dinner is to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it. Ingredients for the meal are almost all local and prepared by a celebrated chef of the region. After a tour of the venue, everyone will settle in: farmers, ...

By Emma Lundberg

Genetically modified organisms aren’t just confined to Petri dishes anymore—they’re in your meatloaf. Genetically modified organisms, or plants and animals that undergo gene altercation in order to promote certain genetic traits, are a clandestine phenomenon consumed by Californians daily. The California Right to Know Campaign hopes to provide Californians with the information necessary to make an informed decision about the consumption of GMO products.

The California Right to Know Campaign supports each consumers’ right to select what is in their food. Just as I have the right to obsess over the nutritional facts of my favorite carton of ice cream, I would like to safely decide if I want genetically modified peanut butter or regular peanut butter. If passed, this ballot initiative will require producers of genetically engineered foods, including all plant and animal products, to include a label on every GMO-containing item in California.

Fifty countries, ...

By Emma Lundberg

Our welcome into the Moscone Center!

This weekend I had the privilege of attending the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade’s 37th Annual Fancy Food Show, an event that featured 80,000 gourmet food products from 1,700 vendors and 35 different countries. Attending the show was about 80,000 times more overwhelming than your average grocery store trip, but from this impeccable scope of gourmet fare, I gained a better understanding of what I might have been passing up on the grocery shelves back home.

The Fancy Food Show is an internationally-acclaimed venue where manufacturers and producers of gourmet food items go to mingle with various buyers, distributors and store owners. The whole spectacle reminded me of an ancient Roman marketplace in which individuals peddled their goods; except, instead of togas, the Fancy Food Show featured people wearing finely pressed suits, shined shoes and crisp shirts.

Amidst the ...

Lundberg Family Farms is proud to introduce our newest Guest Blogger, Emma Lundberg! Emma has been critically thinking about food since she became vegetarian at age 13. Emma credits her parents, Grant and Susie Lundberg, for encouraging and supporting her wide range of interests, spanning from English romantic poetry to violin performance. Currently Emma is earning her Bachelor’s degree in English at the University of California, Berkeley. Please help us welcome Emma to the Lundberg Family Farms Blog!

We've moved into our brand new office building!

Welcome sign in front of the new Administration Building

Years of planning have gone into our new space, which was built with energy efficiency and environmental design in mind. It boasts a steel-framed construction and is built with a high level of recycled steel. The exterior materials include stucco, reclaimed wood from old barns and shops throughout the North State, and metal. Wood from one of our founders, Albert Lundberg's original rice dryer was also utilized to construct tables and benches for conference rooms and the visitor center. The office encompasses 27,658 square feet and offers a naturally lit, open workspace environment to promote collaboration and teamwork.

The new building also pays homage to our rich 75-year history; the 1935 Farmall Tractor in front of the building is the original tractor that Albert brought from Nebraska when the Lundberg family relocated to ...

The Great Blue Heron is one of the most majestic birds found in our fields! Great blue herons enjoy aquatic environments, so they love rice fields. And we are always happy to see them on our farm. 

We never get tired of egrets! Bryce Lundberg, VP of Agriculture, talks about egrets and the fields.

(Gus the farm dog sits on the old tractor)

When Great Grandpa Albert moved from Nebraska to California, he brought his old tractor along. "At the time, it had pretty good horsepower... and Dad sure thought a lot of it," said Uncle Wendell of the tractor.

Norris Anderson, a close relative, agreed to bring the tractor to California on a little old truck. Uncle Wendell is still amazed that the tractor and truck made it to California not only because of the size of the truck, but also because of the roads it had to travel. "I talked to the guys after they arrived in California," said Uncle Wendell.

"Wendell, I don't see how we ever made it," they told him. Norris told Uncle Wendell about traveling on the Great Divide. Uncle Wendell remembers Norris' stories about how steep the roads were and how slowly the truck moved. "There was ...

Check out these beautiful works of art created for us by Jake Early, a California native and graduate of California State University, Chico. Each print illustrates a different season at Lundberg Family Farms. Aren't they stunning?

(Fall)

(Winter)

(Spring)

(Summer)

Of all the creatures that share our fields with us, these turkey vultures have got to be the showiest! Just when I took out my camera to photograph them, one turned around and spread out his wings while the other posed in profile. I guess they’re not shy, are they?

Enjoy autumn with this perfect-for-fall dish featuring Lundberg Family Farms' Brown Basmati rice! Click here for the full recipe.