Alternative Agriculture (1989) / Chapter Skim
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11 Rice Production in California: The Lundberg Family Farms
11 Rice Production in California: The Lundberg Family Farms
Pages 398-418
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From page 398... ...
Rice is the only cash crop grown on the Lundberg Family Farms. Purple vetch (V*
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From page 399... ...
Reduced rates of herbicide are applied on conventional rice fields. Tadpole shrimp (a crustacean)
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From page 400... ...
Buildings and Facilities Except for a machine shop, the main buildings and facilities on the farman extensive, modern milling and rice cake processing plant are associated with the postharvest operations. The milling and processing facilities include rice storage bins, in which high levels of carbon dioxide can be maintained to prevent insect damage during storage; a rice drier; a cleaning mill; various sorting machines; a packaging plant; rice cake production machinery; and two warehouses.
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From page 401... ...
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From page 402... ...
After the straw is rolled down in the fall, purple vetch seed is sown by airplane. In the Lundbergs' experimental system, unsprouted rice seed is planted, in contrast to conventional planting methods in which rice seed is soaked, partially sprouted for 24 hours, and then drained prior to seeding by air into flooded fields.
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From page 403... ...
Seeding into mulch, followed by intermittent flooding in the early stages of rice growth and development, also breaks the life cycles of water pests, such as the seed midge, tadpole shrimp, and rice water weevil, which need continuous flooding to survive. The Lundbergs estimate that the vetch supplies about 120 to 130 pounds of nitrogen per acre.
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From page 404... ...
Labor The Lundberg farming operation employs the equivalent of 6.5 yearround, full-time people, as well as 7 seasonal workers for ~ weeks in the spring and 6 weeks in the fall. The labor required for the alternative rice operation is somewhat greater than that required for conventional rice growing because of the repeated irrigation and surface tilIage to control weeds during the fallow year.
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From page 405... ...
Gordon Brewster, the manager of the Lundberg Family Farms field operations, carefully scouts all of the farm's fields on a continuous basis throughout the growing season. Before working for the Lundbergs, Brewster was a researcher with Occidental Petroleum, where he was in charge of developing agricultural chemicals for rice production.
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From page 406... ...
Improperly timed applications of herbicides in particular, MCPA—late in the season and at high rates of application tend to injure and stress the rice plants, predisposing them to stem rot disease. The application of MCPA is recommended no later than the first 55 days after planting to provide the best control of weeds and to reduce the risk of phytotoxicity or chemical damage to the rice plant (Flint, 1933~.
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From page 407... ...
About 9 days after hatching, tadpole shrimp begin their reproductive phase by digging into the soil, uprooting new rice seedlings, or cutting off new leaves. The muddy water caused by the digging reduces light penetration and slows the emergence of rice seedlings.
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From page 408... ...
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From page 409... ...
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From page 410... ...
Leafhopper, armyworm, and grasshopper ordinarily do not cause significant damage to rice crops in the area of California in which the Lundberg's farm is located. Mosquitoes are a nuisance to human populations near rice fields and sometimes are vectors of disease.
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From page 411... ...
The Lundbergs attributed effective weed control to their rotation sequence and cultural practices during the third (fallow) year of the rotation used in their conventional rice.
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From page 412... ...
Most conventional rice growers use a rotation with 1 year of fallow and 2 years of rice production because of federal price-support program rules.
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From page 413... ...
Because the Lundbergs plant the rice seed by no tilIage into the flailchopped mulch of purple vetch, they have a cash cost of seedbed preparation only one-third that of the conventional rice growers $7.94 per acre compared with $26.34 per acre. The soil fertility management program on the Lundbergs' experimental acreage is substantially less expensive than that on their conventional acreage because of the nitrogen and organic matter supplied by the vetch.
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From page 414... ...
; organic rice yield and price from Gordon Brewster, field manager, Lundberg Family Farms, interview and correspondence, August 1986; state average price from California Crop and Livestock Reporting Service (California Field Crop Review 7[2]
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From page 415... ...
The values of the conventional and organic rice crop per acre harvested were similar ($584.60 versus $517.001. The net return over direct cash operating costs per acre of rice harvested was $257.30 for conventional rice and $345.77 for the Lundbergs' experimental alternative rice.
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From page 416... ...
Cumulative levels of certain pesticides draining from Sacramento Valley rice fields into the Sacramento River have caused concern about drinking water quality and taste and health. In the Sacramento area and other locations, agricultural pesticide concentrations in water are high enough (in the parts per billion range)
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From page 417... ...
1984. Sample Costs of Rice Production, Butte County.
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