A Partnership with Nature
The Rice Farming Techniques of Lundberg Family Farms®
Lundberg Family Farms' growing and processing techniques have developed out of the family's deep-rooted beliefs about the land and surrounding ecology. While most of these methods are more time-consuming and expensive than conventional rice farming techniques, we continue to develop our special relationship with nature, farming this way and researching new methods that put our philosophy into practice.
In the 1930s, Albert and Frances Lundberg left Western Nebraska with their four sons, Eldon, Wendell, Harlan and Homer. During the Dust Bowl years, Albert saw huge tracts of land across the midwest erode. Nutrient-giving organic matter had disappeared from the soil, and fierce winds created enormous dust clouds that made life miserable and farming impossible. Albert decided to take his family to Richvale, and begin a life of farming in Northern California.
The four Lundberg brothers, who now run Lundberg Family Farms, were deeply influenced by their late father, Albert. He believed in ecological farming long before it was fashionable. "He didn't really fit in with the thinking of the time," Harlan says. Influenced by his Dust Bowl experiences, Albert "always had the attitude that he wanted to make the soil better." He wanted to act as nature's caretaker from the ground to the living things residing there. Now, Albert's sons think and farm that way, too.
"We believe a healthy soil will produce healthy food. We believe the soil is living," and as such needs to be "fed and cared for," says Harlan. The Lundbergs have spent decades experimenting and investing in the development of farming practices that put their principles to work, and strengthen their partnership with nature.
Soil Enrichment
Nurturing the soil is a high priority for Lundberg Family Farms. Most farmers consider the soil to be merely an anchor for the plant's roots, and treat it as a sterile medium in which they attempt to control growth, weeds, insects and diseases with various chemicals and burning. The Lundbergs view the soil as a living organism rotating in cover crops, regularly leaving fields fallow, and encouraging waterfowl to rest on our fields in the winter.
Between rice crops, we plant nitrogen-fixing legumes as a cover crop on our Organic and Eco-Farmed fields. "Planting purple vetch on Eco-Farmed fields minimizes the need for supplemental fertilizer," says Lundberg farm manager, Mike Felkins. Vetch and composted animal manure are the only "fertilizers" used on Organic fields. Cover crops improve soil fertility and tilth, and supply organic matter to the field. Along with vetch, we have experimented with bell beans, strawberry clover, adzuki beans, and clovers from Australia."We like to experiment with new cover crops to see if we can improve on our current method," Harlan explains.
We leave our Organic fields fallow every other year, and our Eco-Farmed fields every two to three years. Generally we have less than two-thirds of the land in production at a time. This aerates and rests the soil, and allows time for cover crops to mature, produce abundant organic matter and supply nitrogen. We have some areas of our farm that we do not cultivate at all, such as the field where we compost rice hulls.
The role of waterfowl and other birds--cranes, egrets, ducks, herons, swans, geese, pheasants, red-legged dowitchers, and mud hens, among others--is vital to our soil building program. They provide natural fertilization. "It seems the birds particularly like Wehani fields," Eldon says. Wehani is a russet-colored, aromatic long grain rice developed here and grown only by the Lundberg family. We see lots of wildlife on all our fields-- Organic and Eco-Farmed.
Several wildlife experts visiting our farms have been impressed with the variety and abundance of birds on our fields. "We cooperate with wildlife groups by helping them count the birds populations and discussing ways to encourage their propagation," Harlan says. We post special "No Hunting" signs around our property. The birds eat grain left in our fields after harvest, whereas a conventional farmer's field is an unappealing charred black surface as a result of the rice stubble being burned. Pheasants and ducks lay their eggs in the lush vegetation of the purple vetch that covers our fields in winter.
Planting
Rice planting occurs in April and May. On our Eco-Farmed fields and Organic fields we run a flail mower over the vetch, which chops the cover crop about six inches above the ground, creating a mat of organic matter on top of the soil. At this point on a Eco-Farmed field, we chisel, disc and level as conventional farmers do, preparing the soil for aerial planting.
On the Organic fields, we use a special drill to plant the rice right through the vetch mat into the soil. We arrived at this method after may years of experimenting with planting techniques, such as planting rice in rows, injecting the seed into the ground with water, flying the seed on with an airplane, and broadcasting the seed onto a dry fields and then irrigating. "We use the drill because this method controls the weeds best, which is a primary concern in Organic Rice production," Homer states. "The hearty rice plant is able to germinate and come up through the vetch, while the weeds, without adequate light, do not get a good start."
Wehani, our russet-colored aromatic long grain, requires a special planting method--we broadcast the seed with a different type of drill and then apply the water.
Many ducks and pheasants make their nests in our fields at this time of year. We look for the nests before working in a field, placing stakes around them to protect them from the equipment.
Water Management
"Water is a precious commodity to all rice growers," Homer emphasizes. In California, water is either delivered by canals or pumped from wells. Pumping is more expensive and usually utilized only in times of drought. During years when water is plentiful, relatively inexpensive canal water is used. Many farmers often irrigate by running water through the field and out the drain at the end into a drainage ditch. This practice eliminates the need for continual measuring of water levels, and is convenient for the irrigator, but it wastes water.
"Over the past several years, our water usage has been at least 25 percent lower than the average in our water district," Homer says. We accomplish this by measuring water levels with stakes and closely monitoring them. All water used on our farm is metered so we can manage our most precious resource wisely. In addition, after the permanent flood, we don't release any water off the fields while irrigating. "We curtail irrigation early in season," Wendell explains, "allowing fields to dry often without releasing any water." This keeps the water clean for downstream urban users and other farmers.
"We have to time the cutoff of irrigation water perfectly so the rice does not turn chalky and produce a poor crop," Eldon says. Our water management techniques not only conserve water, but even aid our weed control efforts.
Weed Control
Conventional farmers have a routine program for applying herbicides. They generally follow a schedule and recommended amounts provided by pest control advisors and pesticide sales reps. Farmers commonly use Bolero, Ordram, Londex, and MCPA to control weeds in rice.
We have quite a history of weed control techniques we have tried in our Organic fields. We planted rice in rows and cultivated the weeds out. We created a special weeding machine with tines that rotated perpendicular to the direction the tractor was moving, and cut off weeds one inch below the soil surface. we tried irrigating with a sprinkler system, planting with a drill that injected water into the soil with the seed, cultivating with rotary hoes, and even tearing the weeds out of the field with a street cleaner. "Most of these experiments did not work well enough to use in the long run," Eldon says, "but they did lead to our current way of controlling weeds in Organic rice."
Of course, we use absolutely no herbicides on our Organic fields. "Our main method of weed control takes place when we plant," Wendell says. "We drill the seed with a special piece of equipment in a dry field covered with a thick vetch mat. Then we flush the field to germinate the rice, leave it to dry for two weeks so the weeds wilt, then apply the permanent flood." This planting and irrigating program controls the weeds very well.
For both Organic and Eco-Farmed rice, we select varieties that compete with weeds successfully. In addition, the birds help out by eating the weed seeds. "We have stayed away from the harshest chemicals, such as Bolero," Eldon's son Grant, says. "On our Eco-Farmed fields, we use minimum amounts of herbicide only when absolutely necessary. We tolerate more weeds in our nonorganic fields than other rice farmers, and use herbicides only when the yield of the crop is seriously threatened."
Pest Control
Conventional pest control methods typically consist of a routine program to apply pesticides, relying on pest control advisors to recommend rates of application. The biggest pest problems in rice are rice water weevil, which attack the roots of the young plant, and shrimp, which feed on the newly germinated rice plant. Both of these pests reduce the plant size, and eventually the yield. Furdan is a chemical commonly used to control weevil, Bluestone for shrimp.
On Lundberg Organic fields we use absolutely no pesticides--only natural controls. Our dry planting technique helps protect the rice from shrimp. The rice plant is well established by the time we apply the permanent flood, so the shrimp cannot ruin the crop. The birds, fish and snakes help control the shrimp and rat populations. Like other growers, we plant varieties of rice that are somewhat resistant to these pests.
On Eco-Farmed fields, we have no routine program for chemical use -- we apply them in minimal amounts only as needed after careful inspection of each field. We rarely need to treat the fields for weevil--only on certain fields with a history of weevil problems. This is minimized by discing the borders of the fields to eliminate a potential nesting ground.
"While we want to control the weeds enough to keep the rice thriving, we always consider our long-term objective when deciding how to treat a field--will this be good for the land?" Harlan asks. "This is our highest priority. When we pass the land on to our sons and daughters, we want to leave the soil in a better condition than we started with."
Harvesting
Harvesting is an exciting, busy time at the farm. The four brothers meet with the farm manager, miller, storage manager and other key personnel daily to coordinate the harvest and make sure the rice coming in from the fields is at the perfect maturity.
Conventional rice farmers, whose production generally sells as white rice, at a higher moisture (25 to 30 percent moisture), which means the rice is not as mature. They do this so the rice does not shatter when milled to white. Often, that less mature rice is sold as brown rice.
We grow virtually all our rice to sell as brown rice, so we can allow the rice to mature to full flavor in the field because the rice will not be put through the white rice milling process. we harvest at 16 to 18 percent moisture, which is a mature, fully developed rice kernel. This maturity gives the rice fullest flavor.
We sometimes have to gamble with the weather, not wanting to harvest less mature rice, but not wanting to harvest in muddy conditions if rain is forecast. "Harvesting in mud is time- consuming and expensive," Wendell says. "We take many such risks when the fields are not quite ready--waiting to harvest in spite of clouds so we have the best-tasting rice."
Green kernels in the rice are completely natural. Each grain on the rice plant does not mature at exactly the same time. Some rice mills remove these with a color sorter, but we found this adds an unnecessary cost. Green kernels are not nutritionally inferior.
Straw Incorporation
After harvest, about three tons of straw per acre is left in the field. Most farmers eliminate the straw by burning it. The result is a parched, scorched earth and a smoky, hazy Sacramento Valley during the months this burning is going on.
The Lundbergs do not burn the straw and stubble left on our fields. We have spent years experimenting with ways to incorporate it into the soil. In 1971, we modified a harvester to chop the straw left in the field. We also tried chopping the straw with a piece of equipment pulled by a tractor. The chopping equipment was too time-consuming and expensive to operate.
"One year we used a Rotera," Eldon remembers. "This was a machine with an egg-beating motion that churned up the straw in the mud. We quit using it because it altered the soil structure in an undesirable way." Another year we designed a self-propelled drum with large fins to work the straw into a wet field, but the wheels got clogged with mud.
Currently, we pull huge rubber tire rollers over dry fields which smash the straw and put it in contact with the ground. It is then worked into the soil with a chisel. This speeds decomposition. We designed a cage-roller to work the straw into wet ground. The flocks of geese, ducks, and swans help decompose the straw and stubble by trampling it into the soil.
Very recently we bought a new straw chopping machine that will help incorporate the straw even more thoroughly. This equipment is installed right into the harvester, where sharp rotating blades cut the straw into short pieces as it is thrown out of the thresher.
“All the methods we have experimented with have been much more expensive than burning,” Grant says. “We currently spend approximately 30 dollars per acre to work the straw into the soil.”
This expense would seem unnecessary to some farmers, but in our opinion, the benefits to the soil, air and community make it completely worthwhile.
Drying, Storing, Milling and Packing
The beginning of harvest also signals the beginning of two very critical phases in the production of Lundberg Rice drying and storage. The rice must be dried down to about 14 percent moisture for storage. “We dry our rice slowly for the best quality,” Wendell says. “We pass our freshly harvested rice across streams of warm air to gradually draw out the moisture.”
Each variety of rice must be stored separately. Long grain, medium grain, short grain, sweet rice, Wehani, California Basmati, Christmas Rice, Richvale Red, and Black Japonica are some of the rices we grow to sell individually or mix together to create our Gourmet Brown Rice Blends, such as Wild Blend, Countrywild, and Jubilee.
To keep moths from infesting our rice, we occasionally fill our Organic rice bins with a natural, non-toxic gas, carbon dioxide, which is what we exhale when we breathe. We have to monitor the temperature inside the bin and stir the rice with cold air to keep it fresh and insect-free. We have experimented with beneficial insects and other California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF)-approved controls to keep pests out of our storage areas. We use absolutely no fumigation on our Organic rice.
Our Eco-Farmed rice is also regularly stirred and aerated with cold air. This usually eliminates the need for chemical controls in winter. We use a cold room during the summer that keeps the milled rice fresh during its limited time in the warehouse.
Most rice mills mill their rice to white and were not built specifically to remove only the inedible hull as our mill was designed to do. These mills often produce brown rice with scratched kernels which turn rancid more quickly than unscratched kernels. Meticulous machines sort out straw, husks, dirt and broken kernels. Each lot of rice is traceable from planting to packaging. This allows the Lundbergs to exercise accurate quality control. Our equipment uses rubber rollers which gently mill of the inedible hull. Our mill manager, Steve Clement (who has been with us for more than 25 years), mills some of the best-looking brown rice in California.
Lundberg rice is virtually milled to order. “Since our mill is relatively small,” Steve says, “we are able to mill on demand, which means our customers get the freshest rice possible.” Packaged rice is rarely in the warehouse for more than two weeks. Rice milled for rice cakes is usually processed within hours.
All Lundberg Family Farms' products are produced with consideration for a healthy environment, including our packaging. Many of our products are packed in recycled cardboard, and we regularly take paper from our warehouse to be recycled. "We are continuously working to make environmentally-positive changes in all our packaging and operations," says Eldon.
We hope you have enjoyed this tour of our farm. We are thrilled that we can produce a healthy food in a way that builds up the soil and protects the surrounding wildlife. Our family hopes you will continue to enjoy the full line of Lundberg products, supporting ecological rice farming that benefits everyone.