[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 163 (Tuesday, December 18, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S8137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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          CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF CALIFORNIA RICE PRODUCTION

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, today I would like to commemorate 
the centennial of commercial rice production in California. What began 
as an experimental crop in the Sacramento Valley has become a more than 
billion-dollar industry for our State and an exceptional agricultural 
product enjoyed by consumers worldwide.
  Rice was introduced in California during the Gold Rush, when 
immigrants traveled to the State in search of fortune and a better 
life. As early as 1870, European and Asian settlers began to experiment 
with different varieties of rice that they had grown back in their 
homelands. After attempts to grow long grain rice were unsuccessful, 
the USDA concluded that California's climate would be more amenable to 
a Japanese medium-grain variety known as Kiushu. When Kiushu failed to 
thrive in southern and coastal areas of California, it was discovered 
that the Sacramento Valley had the most ideal soil and climate 
conditions for the high-quality Japanese varieties of rice. By 1908, 
Kiushu rice was successfully being grown in the community of Biggs in 
Butte County. The California Rice Experiment Station, established in 
Biggs in 1912, has helped farmers perfect the short- and medium-grain 
rice crop for the last century. More than 95 percent of the State's 
rice is grown in the Sacramento Valley region of California.
  Rice has become one of the State's top agricultural exports. 
According to the California Rice Commission, California rice is used in 
nearly every roll of sushi made in the United States and represents 
more than 30 percent of the Nation's rice exports to countries such as 
Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. This year's crop is expected to yield 5 
billion pounds and represents $1.8 billion in economic value.
  In addition to supplying consumers with this fine agricultural 
product, California rice fields serve as an important habitat for 
migratory birds along the Pacific Flyway. After the fields are 
harvested in the fall, growers flood them to create feeding grounds 
that yield nearly 60 percent of the food needed by 10 million waterfowl 
each winter.
  I congratulate California's 2,500 family rice farmers on this 
centennial of successful rice production, and organizations such as the 
California Rice Commission and Farmers' Rice Cooperative that have 
worked to promote and export this fine product all over the 
world.

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