Fall 2021 Newsletter

We are in the last stretch of the rice production efforts this month before harvesting in the beginning of October.

So the expectation of intense summer heat appears to be over now, but we are hoping to see as many days of sunshine this month so that the rice plants will continue to develop and form as many matured seeds as they possibly can. The next 30 days of weather will be critical for the rice, especially the night temperature. Rice plants stop developing seeds to mature when the air temperature drops below 14 degrees Celsius. We are praying … more sunny days, higher yield, more rice, and more product for your enjoyment!! For those anxiously waiting our BC Rice, please be patient for just a little while!!!

We have done some improvements this season. Our new irrigation system that required 230 meters of digging and laying pipes and then backfilling was the biggest and costliest improvement. The expansion of the rice field to three times the size of the last year’s hasn’t worked very well though. We just could not find enough bodies and hands to win the “weeding battle”. Where were those “Young Agrarians when we needed them badly?!”

We experimented “direct seeding method” for the first time as versus to more conventional transplanting seedling method by using HydroGreen hydroponic system, an automated livestock feed production technology that uses light, water and steady temperature to germinate seeds and grow plants similar to growing sprouted micro greens in an incubator for human consumption. It took 6 days to germinate rice seeds and we broadcasted directly to the flooded field. The seeds took roots and grew to similar height of greenhouse seedlings with less care and manpower. The success of this project provided a great potential for our future rice cultivation and production in the Fraser Valley.

Watch for the next newsletter (it will be in mid-late October) as we will be announcing the launch date of the BC Rice sale. Thank you!