A Partnership with Nature
Lundberg Family Farms is more than a family business; it’s a way of life. Established by our grandparents, Albert and Frances, in 1937, it was nurtured by our parents and entrusted to us, the third generation, to farm for today and protect for our children.
If there is a formula for producing healthful, nutritious and great-tasting organic rice and rice products, this is it: Rich earth. Clean air. Pure water. Sound simple? Read on.
Soil Enrichment
Soil is a living organism and, like any living thing, it needs constant nurturing. Rather than rely on chemical fertilizers and synthetic inputs to replenish the soil with nutrients, we combine the ancient practice of crop rotation and fallowing fields, with innovative techniques like laser leveling rice fields and encouraging waterfowl to rest in our fields during their annual migrations.
The nutrient rich purple vetch and other crops we plant in the winter add organic material and improve tilth, enriching the soil and providing a hospitable nesting ground and rest stop for the cranes, egrets, ducks, herons, swans, geese and pheasants that live here year round or annually traverse the Pacific Flyway.
Planting
In the spring, before we ready the fields for planting, we stage Operation Egg Aid, combing our fields in search of nests containing duck or pheasant eggs. Volunteers join Lundberg Family Farms’ team who carefully remove the eggs and take them to a local hatchery, where the rescued eggs hatch. These ducklings are eventually banded and released back into the wild.
Before we plant a single seed, we enhance soil fertility by incorporating cover crops into the soil.
The cultivation equipment used to prepare rice fields for planting are common implements used on other farms: chisel plows, discs, and land planes work the ground into a seed bed. Rice seeds are usually planted into flooded fields by agricultural aircraft. Some fields are seeded using GPS guided seeders and no-till drills, as a way of helping specialty rice varieties compete with weeds.
Weed Control
Weed control is a challenge to every rice farmer, organic and conventional. Unlike conventional farms, which often apply chemical herbicides and pesticides routinely, Lundberg Family Farms controls weeds on Organic fields by managing water in ways which helps the rice compete with the weeds. We tolerate more weeds than most farmers and use carefully selected herbicides on our Eco-Farmed fields on an as-needed basis.
Water Management
Water is precious to all California farmers, and we take exceptional care to conserve it. We use water as a tool to control weeds and insects. In Richvale, California the soil is a heavy clay adobe with dense hard pan below – perfect for rice. We are able to farm rice with less water than is used for many fruit, nut, and fiber crops.
Pest Control
By fallowing fields and using cover crops, we create a healthy, balanced environment that naturally minimizes the threat to new rice plants posed by pests. When necessary, we use special watering techniques such as “deep water/dry up” to help manage weeds, tadpole shrimp, or rice water weevil. Occasionally we may use Baccillus thuringiensis (Bt) or an organic approved copper product to help control army worms or scum. Throughout the growing season we closely monitor our Eco-Farmed fields and treat them for pests only when necessary, and then only with materials consistent with Lundberg Family Farms’ commitment to healthy soil, pure water, and great tasting rice.
Harvesting
Primary factors determining the perfect timing for harvest are rice moisture levels and desirable golden-brown color for brown rice. Rice grown conventionally for white rice is typically harvested with higher moisture, so the kernels won’t break and crack when polished. (The polishing process removes the germ and bran layers from brown rice, revealing white rice.)
We prefer to allow our brown rice to ripen naturally in the field, harvesting later when the moisture content is lower and flavor is at its peak. Exotic white rice varieties, such as Arborio, California Basmati, and Sushi, are harvested earlier, when moisture content is higher.
Straw Incorporation
After harvest, about 3.5 tons of rice straw per acre remains. Rice straw is never burned on any Lundberg Family Farms field. Instead, we painstakingly chop the rice straw to accelerate its decomposition, then plow it back into the soil, where over winter the soil, sun, water and waterfowl (which feed on leftover rice kernels) further the decomposition process in a truly symbiotic relationship between farming and nature.
Lundberg Family Farms has been a pioneer in developing methods - dry incorporation, wet incorporation, bird incorporation - that handle the straw and build the soil. Many of our ideas and concepts have been adopted by the rice industry and we continue to share our visions and ideas.
Storage
Planting, growing and harvesting are three critical phases of rice production. The fourth is drying the harvested crop to the perfect moisture level, then storing each variety in specially designed rice bins until it is ready to be processed into rice or rice products.
We use only organic-approved drying and storage methods at Lundberg Family Farms. We carefully monitor moisture, temperature, freshness, grain pest activity and milling properties to protect the quality and integrity of the rice. Painting rice bins white and using grain chillers when it is warm, keeps our rice cooler and fresher in the summer. If we get grain insects in our rice bins, we use our specialized heating systems or controlled atmospheric preservation for control (never chemical pesticides or fumigation).
Packaging
We mill our rice in small batches to meet the needs of our customers and package and deliver it as close to the time of sale as possible to assure our customers recieve the freshest rice possible. By keeping track of every product from planting to packaging, our quality control procedures lead the market.
Research & Innovation
Near the main farm buildings we maintain an experimental farm and seed nursery where we research, test and develop new environmentally-friendly farming practices and rice varieties. Part small-scale farm, part laboratory and part greenhouse, these research resources are a way we practice continuous improvement; one of the core values established more than 70 years ago by founders Albert and Frances Lundberg.
Through ongoing research and innovation we continuously improve the way we farm the land, source our energy, conduct our business and serve the needs of customers.
Our Values
Continuous improvement is one of our family’s core values. Integrity, respect and teamwork are the others. In our family, operating with integrity means doing the right thing: by our customers, our neighbors, our employees, our heritage, and our future.
We respect the land that is the source of our harvest, the people who make that harvest possible, and the way of life that has been handed to us from generation to generation.
We understand that everything we do is a collaborative effort, and we value the contributions of every member of the Lundberg family - and the extended family that includes everyone with a stake in our success.
All of this adds up to our unwavering commitment to the core values that have guided our family for three generations. We believe you can taste it in our rice.