Rice Experiment Station Will Open To The Public For "Field Day"

On Wednesday, the place where California's rice industry develops new types of rice will open to the public for tours as part of "Field Day."

The California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation's Rice Experiment Station is in Biggs, north of Yuba City. Right now, about 50,000 different lines of rice are planted on 350 acres.

Kent McKenzie is the director.

"It takes a decade or more to come up with a variety when you make a new cross pollination and then we increase the seed, decide on which ones we want to release and release those to the growers," says McKenzie.

McKenzie also says the experiment station is needed to make new varieties, because rice plants are usually self-pollinating, which means they likely won't make a new variety on their own.

The experimentation station opened in 1912 and holds Field Day on the last Wednesday of August every year.

This year's event starts at 7:30 Wednesday morning. There will be presentations on red rice, weed control, and the different experiments.