BUSINESS

BUSINESS>

Rice Farmers in U.S. Benefit From Surging Prices

By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press | May 12, 2008

WILLIAMS, Calif. — Dipping its left wing, a canary-yellow biplane makes a sharp turn and dives over a flooded field, showering rice on the shallow water fifteen feet below.

It’s aerial seeding season for rice farmers in California, which produces about 20% of the crop grown in America. With the price of rice surging internationally, much of the medium-grain rice being planted between the Sutter Butte mountains and California’s Coastal Range has already being sold, even though harvest still is months away.