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From Rice Farmers to Rice Doctors: Lundberg Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of its Nursery, Where Regenerative Organic Rice is Born!
4/09/2025
In the heart of California’s Sacramento Valley, Lundberg Family Farms has long been a pioneer in organic rice farming. In 2023, Lundberg became the first U.S. grown rice brand to launch Regenerative Organic Certified® rice. Now, more than 99% of all the organic rice Lundberg grows is Regenerative Organic Certified®, proving that regenerative organic agriculture can work at scale. Their secret? Lundberg’s nursery, the only specialty organic rice breeding program of its kind in the country!
Today, four companies control 60% of the world’s crop seed and agricultural chemical sales. Most crops are developed for resistance to chemical herbicides and pesticides, which contribute to climate change throughout their lifecycle. However, Lundberg studies, selects, and develops rice varieties for compatibility with regenerative organic farming practices, like drowning and drying up weeds instead of dousing their fields with chemicals. A recent study from researchers at UC Davis indicates that this Dry Up method of organic weed management can help reduce global warming potential (GWP) by 49% relative to continuous flood.
How do they do it? Lundberg’s small but skilled team of “rice doctors” creates new rice varieties using old-fashioned plant breeding methods—no genetic engineering involved. They do this by carefully hand-pollinating between two different types of rice plants. Rice plants have flowers with both male and female parts, so they can pollinate themselves. To create a cross, Lundberg’s rice doctors first choose two parent plants: one to be the male and one to be the female. They gently open the flowers on the female plant and use a tiny vacuum to remove its pollen so it can’t fertilize itself. Then, they gently dust pollen from the male plant onto the female. Once the pollination is done, the rice doctors cover the plants for safekeeping, and about a week later, the grains of a new rice variety are visible!
At any given time, Lundberg is testing thousands of varieties of rice. But their goal isn’t more rice varieties, it’s better rice varieties: better appearance, aroma, flavor, footprint, and fit for Northern California’s climate. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack! Over the past 10 years, Lundberg’s team has trialed more than 80,000 unique breeding lines. However, in the past 50 years, Lundberg has brought about a dozen of them to grocery store shelves.
So, Lundberg Family Farms is delighted that the 50th anniversary of their nursery coincides with their launch of a NEW variety of Regenerative Organic Certified® Black Pearl Rice, which took 12 years to develop, is a natural source of antioxidants, and has a 25% higher yield—meaning it produces 25% more rice per acre!
Lundberg’s story serves as a reminder that through creativity and commitment, it’s possible to forge a path toward a more sustainable future where agriculture can heal the earth and nourish your life!