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Episode 34: A Year Like No Other
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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.
Episode 34: A Year Like No Other
By Jim Morris | May 15, 2022
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 ...
Episode 33: Unprecedented
By Jim Morris | Apr 23, 2022
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 ...
Episode 32: Momentum Grows for Sites Reservoir
By Jim Morris | Mar 29, 2022
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 ...
Episode 31: How Rice Fields may help Salmon Runs
By Jim Morris | Mar 12, 2022
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
By Jim Morris | Feb 15, 2022
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 ...
Episode 29: Helping Fins and Feathers
By Jim Morris | Jan 11, 2022
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
By Jim Morris | Dec 12, 2021
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 ...
Episode 27: The Birds
By Jim Morris | Nov 2, 2021
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, ...
Episode 26: Water Planning in the Sacramento Valley
By Jim Morris | Oct 4, 2021
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
By Jim Morris | Sep 8, 2021
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 ...
Episode 24: Must Add Water
By Jim Morris | Jul 20, 2021
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 ...
Episode 23: Whatever it Takes
By Jim Morris | Jul 1, 2021
(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. ...
Episode 22: Nurturing Nature
By Jim Morris | May 31, 2021
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. ...
Episode 21: Dry Year Plans Taking Shape
By Jim Morris | May 1, 2021
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 ...
BONUS Episode: Leading with Compassion
By Jim Morris | Apr 19, 2021
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
By Jim Morris | Mar 31, 2021
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 ...
Episode 19: The Sushi Prodigy
By Jim Morris | Feb 28, 2021
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 ...
Episode 18: History, Tradition and Compassion
By Jim Morris | Jan 31, 2021
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 ...
Episode 17: An Incredible Journey Multiplied by 1.2 Million
By Jim Morris | Jan 3, 2021
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, ...
Episode 16: The Case for Sites
By Jim Morris | Dec 10, 2020
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 ...
Episode 15: Where the Wild Things Are
By Jim Morris | Nov 19, 2020
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
By Jim Morris | Oct 29, 2020
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
By Jim Morris | Sep 27, 2020
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
By Jim Morris | Aug 30, 2020
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
By Jim Morris | Jul 26, 2020
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!
By Jim Morris | Jun 29, 2020
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
By Jim Morris | May 17, 2020
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 ...
S1 E8: Essential Work in Rice Country
By Jim Morris | Apr 20, 2020
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 ...
S1 E7: Ocean Bound
By Jim Morris | Apr 1, 2020
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 ...
S1 E6: Helping Salmon
By Jim Morris | Mar 3, 2020
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 ...
S1 E5: Hard Work, Done Right
By Jim Morris | Feb 3, 2020
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 ...
S1 E4: Ducks Love Rice
By Jim Morris | Jan 1, 2020
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 ...
S1 E3: Life is a Flyway
By Jim Morris | Nov 29, 2019
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 ...
S1 E2: Snow Goose Farms
By Jim Morris | Oct 31, 2019
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 ...
S1 E1: The Starting Point of Your Sushi Roll
By Jim Morris | Oct 1, 2019
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 ...
Season 1 Pilot: Armstrong & Getty
By Jim Morris | Sep 16, 2019
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 ...