INGRAINED

Sharing the untold stories of California rice

Ingrained is produced and sponsored by The California Rice Commission. Hosted By Jim Morris.

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Episode 34: A Year Like No Other

ABOUT INGRAINED

The California Rice Podcast

Rice is a staple food for the world. Billions of people eat it several times a day. It’s part of the culture of many countries. However, many people are unaware of the valuable role California plays in rice production. Join host Jim Morris to learn the largely-untold stories that make California rice prominent around the world, from producing virtually all of America’s sushi rice to providing habitat for millions of birds. Ingrained, the California Rice Podcast, will provide in-depth coverage of the people and subjects that make this industry so uniquely valuable.

Episodes
rice field during drought

Episode 34: A Year Like No Other

California farmers are no strangers to drought, although the magnitude of this, a third straight dry year, has widespread and significant impacts in Sacramento Valley rice country and nearby communities. Kurt Richter A lack of ...
dry rice fields during drought conditions

Episode 33: Unprecedented

Many travelers heading north on Interstate 5 or Highway 99 only get a fleeting glimpse of the Sacramento Valley. However, those who know this region understand and appreciate how unique and valuable it is. Tod ...
aeral view of Sites Reservoir site

Episode 32: Momentum Grows for Sites Reservoir

A third straight drought year poses major challenges for California’s environment, cities and farms. While cooperation, collaboration and innovation are needed in the short term, many feel a major part of the long-term water solution ...
researchers going out into salmon fields on a boat

Episode 31: How Rice Fields may help Salmon Runs

Since fundamental changes were made to the way rice straw is managed following harvest in the early 1990s,  Sacramento Valley rice country has steadily grown as a vital rest and refuel stop for millions of ...

Episode 30: How California can secure a more stable Water Future

For all of the high-tech advancements California is famous for, one part of the state’s infrastructure – providing enough water for its environment, cities and farms – is lacking. It has been more than four ...
Jacob Katz standing in flooded rice field

Episode 29: Helping Fins and Feathers

A generation ago, it may have seemed far-fetched that Sacramento Valley rice fields could play a vital role for millions of birds.  However, changes in rice growing methods in the early 1990s – a shift ...

Episode 28: Time for Wildlife Refuges to Soar

Winter is approaching, and that will soon translate into the arrival of millions of birds to the rice fields and wildlife refuges in the Sacramento Valley. Suzy Crabtree For many, including Suzy Crabtree, it’s a ...
Mallards taking flight

Episode 27: The Birds

It took longer than normal, but fortunately it is happening. A shallow amount of water is showing up in rice fields throughout the Sacramento Valley – essentially a welcome mat for the 10 million ducks, ...
Sacramento River with Sutter Buttes in background

Episode 26: Water Planning in the Sacramento Valley

Water has long been a contentious subject in California.  As the nation’s most populous state, leading the nation in farm production and a state dedicated to environmental protection, it’s easy to understand why. David Guy ...

Episode 25: Go Time for Harvest and the Wildlife Migration

Even during difficult times like we’ve been experiencing, it helps to look for the positive. Everett and Steve Willey In Sacramento Valley rice country – two positives are unfolding. After a difficult year where drought ...
Cinnamon Teals taking flight

Episode 24: Must Add Water

What is shaping up as the most significant drought in decades has impacted much of the West. A lack of adequate rain, sizzling temperatures and a snowpack that all but vanished have led to major ...
Marina Guzman releasing a bird into the air. Photo credit: Holly A. Heyser

Episode 23: Whatever it Takes

(Above) photo credit: Holly A. Heyser The driest year in decades has been a jolt to much of California. Challenges extend beyond cities and farms, as wildlife is impacted by a sharp drop in habitat. ...
Dunlin flock taking flight

Episode 22: Nurturing Nature

The driest year California has experienced since the 1970s will have wide-ranging impacts in the West. In the Sacramento Valley, a reduced water supply will lead to about a 20 percent reduction in rice plantings. ...
birds taking flight from fallow rice field in winter

Episode 21: Dry Year Plans Taking Shape

The coming weeks will be busy in the Sacramento Valley, as highly-skilled pilots plant this year’s rice crop. Farmers are no stranger to challenges, and this year is no different. Below-par rain and snowfall have ...
Taro Arai

BONUS Episode: Leading with Compassion

Taro Arai has an electric personality. As Chief Dreaming Officer for Mikuni, with nine popular restaurants and sushi bars in Northern California, his enthusiasm and generosity are well known throughout the region. But it wasn’t ...

Episode 20: Moving Forward in a Dry Year

Tractors are working ground in the Sacramento Valley, as the 2021 rice season is underway. Whether it’s farmers, those in cities or for the environment, this year will pose challenges due to less than ideal ...
Chef Billy Ngo inside his restaurant Kru in Sacramento, CA

Episode 19: The Sushi Prodigy

Sushi is often a high culinary art form and its popularity continues to grow. Since the countries first sushi roll was served in Little Tokyo Los Angeles in the 1960s, is has grown into a ...
Don and Peter Rystrom, grandfather and grandson

Episode 18: History, Tradition and Compassion

Chances are you may never have visited Richvale or even heard of it. This small town south of Chico and west of Oroville in Butte County boasts a population of 244.  This is quintessential rice ...
Andrea Mott holding a goose with a solar tracking collar

Episode 17: An Incredible Journey Multiplied by 1.2 Million

It’s a miraculous journey done every year. An estimated 1.2 million snow geese are part of the annual Pacific Flyway migration, traveling thousands of miles as they head south for the fall and winter. Fortunately, ...
Sites Reservoir

Episode 16: The Case for Sites

Insufficient investment in water storage has brought about an almost yearly struggle in California, and another dry start to the rainy season is cause for concern.  A big part of the solution to inadequate water ...
swans taking flight from flooded rice field

Episode 15: Where the Wild Things Are

Their journey is long and exhausting. For those who follow their travels, it’s exhilarating. Every fall and winter, the Sacramento Valley becomes a key rest and refuel stop for millions of birds, as part of ...

Episode 14: Refuge

Like clockwork every fall and winter, Sacramento Valley rice country welcomes millions of visitors. They’re here for several months, to rest and refuel, before continuing on their epic annual journey. The millions of visitors are ...

Episode 13: Harvesting Rice with Kim Gallagher

Before your sushi roll or rice bowl, there’s a team effort to grow, harvest, mill and ship the fundamental ingredient – California rice. Fall is a busy time in the Sacramento Valley, with GPS-guided harvesters ...

S1 E12: Bartell’s Backroads

California has long been a place with great scenery, diversity and creativity. Even with a challenging 2020, there are great places and interesting people hard at work. John Bartell, a reporter for ABC 10-TV in ...

S1 E11: Giants in the Rice Fields

Head north of Sacramento along any of the major freeways, you’ve likely seen the lush green rice fields with ubiquitous wildlife such as herons, hawks and egrets. What may surprise you is just how diverse ...

S1 E10: Avocets, Ibis and Stilts, Oh My!

The lush green color you see in the Sacramento Valley during summer is from a half-million acres of young rice fields. Those fields are not only beautiful to see, their ecosystem is impressive in its ...

S1 E9: Raining Rice in the Sacramento Valley

It’s an annual occurrence throughout the Sacramento Valley; something countless motorists have seen while heading north of Sacramento – skilled pilots flying high-speed, GPS-guided airplanes, planting rice over a half-million acres of fields. Rick Richter ...
Preparing a tractor to work the fields

S1 E8: Essential Work in Rice Country

Tractors are working ground, airplanes are flying and mills are in full production, marking another busy spring in Sacramento Valley rice country. There are marked differences this year compared to recent history, starting with the ...
Young salmon are released into the Sacramento River

S1 E7: Ocean Bound

In less than a minute, a large group of young salmon were released into the Sacramento River, en route to the Pacific Ocean. These were no ordinary fish. Equipped with small transmitters, these baby salmon ...
Using a net to collect salmon in flooded rice field

S1 E6: Helping Salmon

Rice fields in the Sacramento Valley are remarkably productive and versatile. From spring into fall, they produce virtually all of America’s sushi rice. In the fall and winter, those same fields are home to millions ...
Gustavo Mendieta

S1 E5: Hard Work, Done Right

California rice has been grown for more than a century, and is known worldwide for consistently high quality and steady production. A lot of factors contribute to that reputation, including many people working hard behind ...
Virginia Getz and René Reyes

S1 E4: Ducks Love Rice

They are one of the world’s iconic birds. They quack and waddle on land, which is a sharp contrast to their grace in the water and air.  The Sacramento Valley is home to millions of ...
Kristin Sesser

S1 E3: Life is a Flyway

If you think your nearest highway packs a lot of traffic, it probably doesn’t hold a candle to the air traffic in the Sacramento Valley each fall and winter. This is the time of year ...
Sandy Denn

S1 E2: Snow Goose Farms

Fall in the Sacramento Valley means the rice harvest and the return of welcome guests from far away. Millions of birds are now arriving in rice fields and wildlife refuges, as part of their epic ...
sushi and harvester

S1 E1: The Starting Point of Your Sushi Roll

It’s harvest time in the rice fields of the Sacramento Valley, where virtually all of America’s sushi rice is grown. Join us as we go on a harvester ride with grower Brian McKenzie in Sutter ...
Radio hosts Armstrong and Getty

Season 1 Pilot: Armstrong & Getty

Our first-ever episode includes a discussion with radio hosts Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty.  Topics include the vital role of California rice for our economy and environment, as well as how rice farming largely flies ...
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