Episode description
Today, we’re talking about rice with farmer Michael Bosworth!
California grows 20 percent of America’s rice, and nearly all of the country’s sushi rice. Ninety-seven percent of the state’s rice farms are located in the Sacramento Valley.
One of these farms is run by Michael, who comes from a family of farmers dating back to the 1870s. He went to college to study farming and has been a farmer his whole life. The man has rice in his veins!
Michael is a different kind of rice farmer. While the majority of California rice is grown for sushi, Michael has shifted to nurturing unique varieties of grains grown less with a focus on yield and instead with a focus on flavor. His new company, True Origin Foods, was a small idea before the pandemic hit. Today, with the rise in home cooking and the growing consumer desire to buy local, Michael’s business model is thriving.