California Rice Industry: Struggles and Successes
As a rice farmer in Arkansas, I’ve always been curious about how the other half lives—especially out west. California rice farming feels like another universe sometimes. So when I got the chance to sit down with Nicole Montna Van Vleck, a seasoned California grower and policy advocate, I knew we were in for a real conversation.
Let’s talk about farming with one eye on the sky and the other on the canal gate. Nicole and her family farm in the Sacramento Valley, where “weather whiplash” isn’t just a phrase—it’s their reality. “We go from droughts to too much rain from one year to the next,” she told me. Sound familiar? Except out there, water isn’t just precious—it’s political.
In the West, they say whiskey’s for drinking and water’s for fighting. Nicole quoted Twain, but her farm lives it. At Montna Farms, they manage not one but two water companies just to keep rice in the rotation. That’s not just smart—that’s survival. And it shows what collaboration looks like when water law, climate chaos, and farming collide.
The 2022 drought nearly wrecked the California industry. “We lost half of our crop,” she said. Let that sink in—half. And with it went the jobs, the contracts, the ripple effect on rural life. But here’s where the grit shows up: the California Rice Commission fought hard to bring relief, not just to farmers but to the whole web of people connected to that crop. That’s what leadership looks like.
Nicole reminded me that the size of the crop matters—not in ego, but in staying power. “We need to maintain an industry in California that's of significant size for future generations,” she said. That hit me. Because it’s true here too. We don’t keep farming alive by shrinking back. We do it by showing up, speaking up, and standing together.
So if you’ve ever wondered how rice gets grown in a state where water battles outlast political terms, give this episode a listen. Nicole’s got the kind of perspective that only comes from living it. Come walk the turn rows with us. Let’s keep telling the story!
Listen to our last podcast episode here:
💚 https://open.spotify.com/episode/7kMhRAalLmM3YAUvijMPsX?si=2a842bf5c6df461f