Posted on 12/09/2003 11:51:25 PM PST by Pro-Bush
Dec 10, 2003
FARM SCENE: Much-Maligned Rice Farmers Now Key to California's Water Future By Seth Hettena Associated Press Writer
WILLIAMS, Calif. (AP) - The rumble of Don Bransford's pickup truck rousts egrets and blue herons, scattering them above gold and green rice fields drying in the afternoon heat of harvest time in the Sacramento Valley. The birds are among hundreds of species that have taken sanctuary in the marsh-like rice paddies of California, and Bransford, a third-generation rice farmer, says it's his duty to protect them.
"I've got a very living environment on my farm," he said. "I don't believe you rape the environment for the benefit of a few dollars."
It wasn't long ago that California's rice farmers were attacked for doing just that.
From its beginnings feeding newly arrived Chinese miners and railroad workers, California's rice-growing industry evolved into a powerful and much-maligned part of the state's agricultural economy.
Rice farmers were criticized as water hogs for relying on millions of dollars in federal subsidies to grow a low-value, water-intensive crop. In autumn, they choked the air around the state capital with smoke from burning piles of harvest debris and made Sacramento's drinking water taste funny.
Over the past decade, however, that image has changed as the rice industry has adopted practices that have won over even some of its harshest critics. Most recently, the industry has been helped by California's search for long-term solutions to its quest for water.
Rice farmers, beneficiaries of cheap and plentiful federal water supplies, now find themselves playing a critical dual role as environmental stewards and suppliers of water for the state's ever-expanding cities.
In California, the north-to-south transfer of water has been a sore point for generations. The north has most of the supply; most of the people live in the dry south.
Rice growers have been selling increasing amounts of water to Southern California during the past 10 years. The Sacramento Valley, home to much of the state's rice industry, accounts for up to 45 percent of all water sold in the state in some years, according to a Public Policy Institute of California study.
"We need to somehow be a solution to this state's water problems," said Bransford, 56, president of the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, Northern California's biggest local water agency.
Rice farmers free up water by fallowing land. Growers say that taking the land out of production for a year or so gives the soil a vacation that results in a healthier crop the next time around.
Earlier this year, Bransford's irrigation district and two others in the Sacramento Valley signed one-year contracts to sell up to 31 billion gallons of water for nearly $10 million to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a supplier for 18 million people.
"You cannot put a wall up around these counties and think that you're going to keep that water from moving south," Bransford said.
It's a conciliatory approach not often heard among California farmers, known for zealously defending their water rights from thirsty Southern Californians.
"I do not see them as the enemy," said Charles Mathews, a 65-year-old rice grower who heads the Cordua Irrigation District, which has been selling water for years to Metropolitan.
Rice has been harvested in California ever since farmers in Butte County sowed the first crop in 1912 on hard clay soil that would support little else.
Today, about 2 million tons are produced each year in the Sacramento Valley, making California the nation's No. 2 rice producer behind Arkansas. California rice winds up in sushi, Budweiser beer, breakfast cereal and pet food.
About 60 percent of the state's crop is used domestically. The rest is exported to Japan, Canada, Turkey, Jordan, Liberia and other countries.
The industry is propped up by federal farm subsidies, more than any other crop in California. The government paid $1.5 billion to California rice growers over the past seven years, according to the Environmental Working Group.
"It's pretty likely that rice would not be grown on that land without the subsidies," said Ken Cook, the Environmental Working Group's president.
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On the Net:
California Rice Commission: http://www.calrice.org
USA Rice Federation: http://www.usarice.com
Department of Agriculture: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Rice/
AP-ES-12-10-03 0140EST
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