Rice farmers see reasons for hope as harvest begins

Farmers expect rice harvest in the Sacramento Valley is now underway, and they’re optimistic for their crop and its prospects.

Based on harvested fields of some earlier-maturing varieties already making their way to dryers, farmers say they anticipate crop yields will be about average. Despite a recent heatwave, they reported a largely typical growing season — even though the pandemic has made for an unusual marketing year.

Rice is a multi-million dollar industry in Yolo County. In 2019, rice ranked at No. 4 on the Top 20 Commodities for the county, bringing in $57.086 million, an increase over $52 million earned in 2018 and $39.585 million in 2017.

The No. 1 commodity for Yolo County is almonds, which earned $157.776 million in 2019.

With wildfire smoke blanketing California skies, Colusa County farmer Leo LaGrande said harvest has so far been “on the muddy side,” as lack of sunlight prevented fields from drying completely, which could potentially slow harvest. Most of what he’s harvested are Japanese short-grain varieties, which mature earlier than medium-grain Calrose, the state’s predominant variety. He noted strong winds last week did help dry fields faster and that the smoke cover has allowed the crop to mature “at a good, steady pace.”

With uncertainty about how the pandemic will further shake up demand for California rice, LaGrande said he’s excited to learn about shipping channels opening again, with more imports of consumer goods from China coming into the

United States, which bodes well for U.S. exports finding capacity in shipping containers.

“That’s a big deal,” he said, “because that creates an availability of ships going back (to Asia), and a lot of that usually carries ag products.”

In the early days of the pandemic lockdown, when Americans loaded up on pantry staples such as rice, California marketers scrambled to fill orders from retailers trying to restock empty grocery shelves. That uptick in retail demand has slowed, said Chris Crutchfield, president and CEO of American Commodity Co. in Williams, which markets rice domestically and internationally.

Even though domestic retail demand remains “much higher than pre-COVID,” Crutchfield said demand from food service has “dropped off the charts,” and increased retail sales have not offset reductions in food service. For this reason, overall domestic shipments of California rice during the last two months have trended lower than before the pandemic, he added.

“People were talking about a lack of inventory. It’s not as low as we thought,” he said.

California farmers grew more rice this year — 507,000 acres compared to 498,000 acres last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With an “excellent growing season” in 2020, Crutchfield said he expects better yields and more supply coming through the pipeline.

“All that put together, I still feel a little positive about the upcoming year,” he said, noting that prices to farmers have been “very strong” the last two years. “I suspect it’ll still be a profitable crop year for the farmers.”