Comstock's magazine 0919 - September 2019 | Page 50

n AGRICULTURE
1637 in Japan, chose Folsom for its
only production facility in the U.S. in
1989 because of the clean water from
the Sierra Nevada used in nearby
rice fields. Its facility produces 1,400
bottles of sake a day and is open to
tourists who can sip it in the tasting
room surrounded by koi ponds. Koichi
Murakami, vice president of market-
ing, says Gekkeikan Folsom uses 2,000
tons of California rice annually.
Crutchfield says rice also has oth-
er great “co-products,” meaning ev-
erything produced by the industry
can be used for something. Califor-
nia rice is sold to pet food companies,
including Mars, maker of Pedigree
and Iams. Foster Farms is also a huge
consumer, using discarded rice hulls
for bedding for chickens and tur-
keys. And on the environmental side,
nutrient-rich fields after harvest at-
tract migrating birds while scientists
use f looded rice plains to build the
salmon population.
A HUGE NEW MARKET
China is the world’s largest producer
of rice and also the world’s largest im-
porter of rice. With a population of 1.4
billion people, most of whom eat rice
as a daily staple, China depends on
imports from other Asian countries,
with 97 percent of rice imports com-
ing from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambo-
dia and Pakistan.
Gaining access to China opens
more opportunity for California rice.
LaGrande credits his nearly 15 years of
unrelenting effort through three U.S.
presidential administrations (George
W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald
Trump) and the dozens of trips to Chi-
na by his senior vice president of sales,
Steve Vargas, to develop relationships
with officials there. While other farm-
ers and the rice commission held back
during tariff talks between the U.S.
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comstocksmag.com | September 2019