California Calrose Breeding with Drs. Dustin Harrell and Teresa DeLeon

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On this episode, Sarah Marsh Janish speaks with Dr. Dustin Harrell and Dr. Teresa DeLeon, both of the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation and breeders at the California Rice Experiment Station. They detail the history of the Rice Experiment Station and new varieties coming to the California rice market.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hey there. Just jumping on to say that this episode did experience some technical difficulties while recording, and so the audio quality isn't up to our useful standards. Apologies for that, and thanks for sticking with us. Together the UC Rice Farm Advisors to provide relevant, topical, research-backed information related to California rice production. Today I have the privilege of sitting down with some of the rice breeders at the California Rice Experiment Station. The California Rice Experiment Station is a project that helps develop varieties specific to California rice conditions. And while I'm going to let them go into detail about the specifics of this project, it's a real privilege for us to have them on to talk about what they do and the work that they're doing to promote the California rice industry. So with that, I'd like to introduce Dr. Dustin Harrell, Director of the California Rice Experiment Station, and Dr. Teresa DeLeon, the medium-grained breeder for the California Rice Experiment Station. I'd like to just say thank you guys for coming on. Hi, it's our pleasure, Sarah. Thank you for having us. Before we jump into our topic here today, I'd like to ask you both just to introduce yourselves. And Teresa, I think we'll start with you. Can you give us a brief description of your role and how you came to be at the California Rice Experiment Station?

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Good morning, everyone. So my name is Teresa DeLyon. I'm the current medium grain breeder of the Rice Experiment Station. So I joined the station in 2018, initially as the short-grain breeder that time, but in 2021 I got promoted to be the medium grain breeder. So I was really very fortunate, blessed, and lucky because during the formative years of my early career development, I was fortunate to have worked for UC Davies, Duvishana State University, the International Rice Research Institute and Institute of Plant Breeding at UPLD or University of the Philippines. So during that time I had this uh exposure and training with diverse scientists who are all passionate and dedicated to working and development of rice varieties, not only just for a specific country, but for worldwide adoption adaptation of rice. So in QC Davies, I work with Dr. Kasim Al-Khatib and Whitney Brendy Porris. So we try to unlock the origin and the genetics of the VD rice in California. We work on the estimating the effect of VD rice, and we design uh measures to mitigate the spread of that uh weedy red rice. And then in LSU, I was fortunate to have worked with Dr. Prasenta Subudi, who is a geneticist, and then with Dr. Linsko, who is a famous rice breeder. And then in Erie, I've worked closely with virologists and geneticists, such as uh Dr. Ilriong Choi, who is now head of the Temperate Rice Research Consortium. Dr. Hili, a well-known geneticist and plant pathologist. And then in my early career development, I've worked on banana and papaya breeding. So I really hope I could add value to the station because uh I really love rice. I eat rice three times a day, and I'm very happy working with all the people around me here.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

That is quite a pedigree, Teresa. Pun intended, I hope. Yeah. But I know you've you've been a great value to the California rice industry, and we're very fortunate to have you uh working in California. Now, Dustin, I'm gonna ask you the same question. Can you give us a brief individual biography, autobiography, as it were, and then explain how you came to be here in California?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Sure. My name is Dustin Harrell. I'm the director here at the California Rice Experiment Station. Early in my career, went to school at Texas AM University, got an undergraduate there, master's at CF Boston State University, and a PhD with LSU. Worked for LSU as an assistant professor to professor ranking for about 16 years, first as a research erronomist, the LSU Action Rice Research Station, and then as the state rice specialist. Uh, and then my last year there, briefly as as director of the LSU Rice Experiment Station. Came here to the California Rice Experiment Station in 2021, and I think we're doing some great things here.

SPEAKER_04 5:45

I'll agree with that. And I'll also, Justin didn't mention this, but he is the recipient of the 2025 Rice Industry Award, which I think is first of all, congratulations for that. But I think that really indicates how involved and how entrenched in the rice industry he is.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Appreciate that, Sarah. No, it was quite an honor. Quite an honor to be chosen among your peers for what we've done so far in my career. It's been a great appreciate that.

SPEAKER_04 6:12

Well, now that we've talked a bit about uh your individual careers and how you kind of ended up here in the California rice industry, can you guys give us a brief description of the California Rice Experiment Station, a bit of history about how it came to be and then the role that it plays in the modern California rice industry?

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Sure. The California Rice Experiment Station, we're actually an organization called the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation. We're a 501 C5 nonprofit research foundation. We're owned by the rice growers in California. We have an 11-member board of directors who kind of mold and guide us through what the needs are of the growers in California. Our primary mission, the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation, Rice Experiment Station, is to develop improved rice varieties and maintain foundation seed of all grain and market types for the benefit of California rice growers. So that's our main mission. Our main mission is to develop rice varieties for California, but we do work in collaboration with UC Davis and UCCE with all associated research. So in other words, we develop the varieties, but the university does all the agronomic research, fertility research, pathology, entomology, and weed science. And we work together and bring the UC on our farm and you know to help with that type of research. So not only do we develop varieties, but we collaborate uh with other forms of research as well. And, you know, all the varieties that we developed are grower-owned, which is different from any other rice experiment station in the U.S., where most of those are either going to be privately owned by a for-profit company or owned by the university that owned the rice breeding program. So our system is a little bit unique, and I think it it's very beneficial. All the varieties, like I said, are grower-owned, and only growers in California are allowed to grow the varieties that are developed for them. Our rice experiment station, we were established. You know, we're over 100 years old, established in 1912. We have about 425 farmable acres here at the Rice Experiment Station, where we conduct our business.

SPEAKER_04 8:36

Yeah, no, great. I think that gives us an overview. Teresa, anything to add?

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Yeah, I do wanted to point out that we are we do work with USDA, with Dr. Tong Tai on the genetics of some grain quality traits. Uh, we also collaborate with a UC Davis professor from the Pood Science for the sensory evaluation and cooking proper eating and cooking quality of our medium grains. So our research project or research activities, all the variety development we've been doing, is fully funded by the rice growers, and so the varieties that we release are grower-owned, and so we the station produced the foundation seeds as well, and so that those foundation seeds are sold to the growers at a very cheap price, and that allowed the the growers to grow more rice here in California.

SPEAKER_04 9:36

Now, the history of rice breeding in California, as kind of mentioned, the station got started in 1912. But at that point, people had been growing rice in California, but what kind of varieties were they growing if they weren't specifically developed for California?

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Teresa, do you want to start us off with that? So I was not here yet, but based on my reading. So in the before 1960s, I believe the California were growing mostly tree varieties only at that time. So those are the cal rose, which is a medium brain, and there was Caloro and Calor, Caloro and Collusa, which are short brain varieties. And it was not until after 1970s that the station engaged to accelerate a rice breeding program. And then we were able to develop following those uh years, we were able to develop high-ielding varieties, salid warp varieties, early maturing varieties. We had some um lagging resistance and less tolerant varieties. So yeah. So in the beginning, I I uh this the California growth short grains and eventually eventually transitioned to mid-grain buildings.

SPEAKER_04 11:03

Great, thank you. Uh Dustin, anything to add on the early varieties grown in California?

SPEAKER_01 11:09

No, I I think Teresa did a good job. You know, our first varieties that were released from the station were short grain varieties, Calusa and Caloro. And these weren't pedigree breeding varieties, these were selections that were made. And selections made from one of these varieties came from China and the other one from Japan. And so the scientists here made selections from those. And the Calusa and Caloro were grown for many years. And like Teresa said, it wasn't until the 50s that we actually started doing more pedigree breeding instead of selections. And the main driver of cowrose was a variety called Blue Rose that was developed in Louisiana, uh, not at the research experiment station, but by a grower. Uh, he made a selection from a variety and called it blue rose. And blue rose was a medium grain that was of high quality. And at that time, Louisiana specifically was growing almost dominantly medium grain. And blue rose was known for high quality. And so in the 50s, California wanted to come up with their own blue rose high-quality variety, and they did so, and they developed Cal Rose. And originally Cal Rose was a variety. It was released in 1948, and you know, it soon took over what we grew in in California. And by 1975, about 70% of all the rice grown in California was cowrose. And cowrose actually, you know, developed a worldwide following. You know, it was known as high quality, medium-grain rice, and and kind of took over that that blue rose. And you know, cowrows are successful because it was adapted to our environment, it was high yielding for the time, the great grain quality, and and most specifically marketing, you know, and and marketing is what made it, you know, known for high quality. So today, cowrose is not a single variety, it's a group of co-mingled medium grains that we grow today, and we we co-mingle those and we call it cowrose. And one, you know, Teresa's our our medium grain breeder, and even though we're we're commingling five cowrose varieties together, the grain quality, the dimensions, the cooking quality, it's all very similar that you would think it's a singular variety. And that's part of the great breeding that that our our medium-grained breeders do, is because they're looking at panicles from the early stages from from you know the F2s, and just looking at the panicles, does it does it look like a cow rose? And if it doesn't, it gets thrown out very early. And so, yeah, that's you know, almost 90% of if what we produce in California is all you know, cow rose medium grain. So very important part of our breeding program and a very important part of the California rice industry is cowrose. And and Teresa's bringing some new varieties in in that class this year, actually.

SPEAKER_04 14:22

That's exciting. We're gonna have to come back on that and query her on that. But I did want to just kind of go back over something you said about the qualities that make cowrows cowrose. Can you two expand on what you're looking for when you're classifying a medium grain into the cowrose cohort? And uh Dustin, I'm gonna ask you to start off with that.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Yeah, so the breeders are making sure that, you know, the grain dimensions and the grain size shape, the cooking qualities, you know, that they all have to cook the same, look the same, and have great milling and milling stability, the correct amylose content, and they have to make sure that it's high-yielding and protected from diseases. So a lot goes into developing variety. When you talk about all these different variables, our breeders are looking at. And for cowrows specifically, they have to be really closely similar. That way, when you commingle them or mix them together, that you can't tell that they're separate varieties. And one of the big knocks on quality throughout the world is whenever you have grain classes that have a lot of different varieties that are commingle. Maybe they're different size, different shapes. They, you know, cook a little bit different. Some have higher MLOs, some have lower MLOs, and then that creates a non uniform product. And with Cal Rose, we want the product to always be uniform, and that's why we keep the number of varieties that are considered calorose, you know, low and look at all these quality parameters and make sure that they fit before they're released. And maybe Teresa can expand on that.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Sure. So carros for us is synonymous to high quality medium brain. And so what we really wanted to have is a profitable caros that is suitable to our caros market without compromising the heating and cooking qualities prepared by those caros consumers. And so when you look at the back and bag of caros in the market, you can clearly see that caros is very beautiful. The grains are gemstone-like, they appear like more like a gemstones, they're very translucent, they are free of contaminants, they have very low percentage of choppy grains. And and then when you try to cook carrots, it was it really looks very very shiny or glossy. It is creamy looking rice, it is soft, sticky, it is sticky, but it's it's still intermediate sticky, it's not as sticky as the sweet rice, but not loose like the long rate. And then when you try and taste it, it's a little bit chewy, it's smooth inside your mouth, it has a mild taste, and so it's very suitable for sushi preparation and for everyday rice consumption. So from the very start of our variety development, we look at all the brain parameters, the how they look, how they appear when they get cooked, and even before we release a variety to the growers, we make sure that at least for two years we were able to conduct an external blind taste evaluation to make sure the suitability of our medium rings for the calories market. So, what we usually do is we send paddy rice to the California meals and marketers, and they do their own milling and sensory evaluation of color. And so that make that ensures that whatever we are releasing to the growers can be co-mingled with other medium grains in the rice currently grown in rice production in California.

SPEAKER_04 18:36

Great. Thank you for that description. And when you're talking about co-mingling, what varieties can be co-mingled and be contained within the cow rose cohort?

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yeah, so I'll jump on that one, Sarah. We typically have five different cow roses that we're growing in California that are co-mingled and called cowrows. The first being M105. M105 is probably considered our earliest maturing cowrose variety. You know, it's a couple days earlier than M206, and even earlier the further south we go. The M105 is not typically our highest yielder. It's probably on the lower end, close to M206. But the one negative it has is it can lodge on you. So for all of our California varieties, that's the one that you got to watch the closest for lodging, or when that plant lays down whenever the seed head gets heavy. The next two calroses that are co-mingled are M206 and M210. These two varieties are very similar. They're both early maturing, and they their claim to fame is their uh stabling, they're stable milling. So, in other words, when this rice is harvested at lower grain moisture contents, they will still mill well and still produce that head rice that we're looking for with less brokens. M206 and M210 are very similar. In fact, M210 is simply M206 with an added blast gene. So they're basically the same variety, but M210 has that additional blast resistance. Then we go to M209. M209 is the first of our two longer maturing varieties. They're about a week longer than M206. M209 is our second highest yielder that we have out there. In fact, it's been our best miller over the last couple years, for at least for the northern part of California. M209 has a really thick stalk, and so it has the most lodging resistance out of all of our other cow rose varieties. The one negative with that is, you know, maybe that rice stubble at the end of the year is maybe a little bit harder to break down than, say, some of our earlier varieties. It's probably more susceptible to smut as compared to our varieties as well. Then our last variety that we co-mingle is M211. Uh, M211 is is again a late maturing variety, about seven days later than M206, but it's by far our highest yielding variety that we have out there right now. And it does have a couple problems. The first problem that it has is milling. The milling really falls off on this variety as the grain dries down, producing more brokens, which is really undesirable. And then we saw back when we had a heat wave back in 2022, and we had some really hot days and hot nighttime temperatures during grain fill. And what we found out is genetically, M211 had a higher potential for chalk than our other calories varieties. And chalk is that opaque areas that you can get in rice. Sometimes they'll call them white bellies, but opaque areas that you can't see through. So rice you really want to be translucent. And when it has a lot of chalk, you know, it's non translucent. And visually unappealing. So visual quality is down with shock. So those are kind of some of the issues we have with 211. And it looks like Teresa's come up with a replacement for 211, actually.

SPEAKER_04 22:12

Teresa, can you can you explain what this replacement variety is and what it's going to be called?

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Okay. So just just last week we have proposed the release of an experimental experimental line 18 wiper 3018, and we named it as N212. So this particular variety has a broader and more durable blast resistance because it contains the PIB and PIZ resistant genes. So compared to N210, which is a blast-resistant gene, it has a second PIZ blast gene, which is also for BLAST disease. It's like rice with a booster shot for blast disease. So it's very high yielding, equally high yielding as M211. So it on average it gives us 92 sacks per acre, which is a 4% yield bump over the M210. And it performs really very well, especially in Culusa, Sutter, Yuba, Yolo, and even in San Joaquin, the yield potential can be as high as 104 sacks per acre down there. So it also has a superior grain quality, very similar with M210 or M206. It flowers at 90 days, which is four days later than M210, but still two days earlier than M211. It also has a seedling bevor similar to M210. And so it has a pedigree that traces back to M210 and M2O6. Essentially, it is genetically 99.9% M2O6. So it will be a good alternative option for those growers who are growing M2O6 and M210, especially in in places where they have observed the blast disease.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Yeah. No, I think you got the nail on the head. So M212, we're really excited about. We only have a little bit of foundation seed this year, so it's only going to be in the hands of seed producers. And what M212 brings us is that high yield potential that we all our growers love with M211, but it also has that stable milling and low chalk, which our millers love. So we're really excited about this variety. This year it'll only be in the hands of seed rice growers where they'll be growing registered seed from our foundation. So there should be some registered seed available in 2027, but certified seed won't be available till 2028 time period. So we're actually retiring M211 and releasing M212 in the same year. But when I say I'm retiring a variety, we still have foundation seed available for M211 this year, but it'll get lower in the next couple years as M212 seed becomes more prevalent in those same years. So it'll be a seamless transition from M211 to M212. So we're really excited about that.

SPEAKER_04 25:44

Yeah, that sounds great. And it so if if I'm understanding correctly, at the same time that M211 will no longer be available, M212 will be right there to fill the gap. And there should be no break in essentially coverage.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Absolutely. And yeah, and we're really excited about this variety from a yield and milling stability standpoint that you know we didn't have at the M211. You know, and that goes back to, you know, when we do a lot, so bringing a variety takes over 10 years, or at least over 10 generations. And and then we do a lot of testing from preliminary yield trials, advanced yield trials, statewide yield trials, and we get a lot of data and we make release decisions, and we think we have a variety like M211 that's going to be, you know, the bees' knees because it is such a great yielder. And we hadn't seen any problems with it in our in our yield trials. But then you get out in commercial production and we find out, okay, the milling really drops off at lower harvest moistures, and it does have potential for chalk. And sometimes we, you know, it's not until you get it on a lot of acres till you see some of these issues. But right now, as it stands, it's it's replacement in 212. We're super excited about. We don't see any flaws in it yet, but you never know until you get it out there on a lot of acres how it's going to perform.

SPEAKER_04 27:15

That's no, that's a great explanation of that. So since we're kind of touching on the retirement of 211, I did want to bring up a question that I think we've been fielding a lot, which is about the fate of the variety M206. And so I wanted to ask you both to kind of explain what's going to happen with M206 and what its replacement should be.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

Yeah, so M206 has been around for, you know, almost 25 years now. It's an older variety, but a good one. It's probably on our yield potential scale. It's it's kind of on the lower end with some of our newer calories varieties that are much higher yielding, like M211, M212, M209, definitely are higher yielding than M206. And as we develop those new varieties, we have to retire old ones to make the new ones fit. And you know, we have some good alternatives to M206. Obviously, the M212 is going to be one of them, but also M210. So if you're an M206 grower and you love M206, try M210. It's the same thing. Plus, it has a blast gene, and you know, it's it's a newer variety, and and it should do all those same things that M206 does for you.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

So M105 is also a great alternative to M206 genetically. It's 50% M206, and it's very early maturing. Yeah, it's only two days earlier than M206 here up north in the Sacramento Valley, but down in the cooler areas of Yolo, San Joaquin, it could be seven days earlier than M206. And M105 has this uh excellent milling yield. It's very it's a very forgiving rice variety. You can harvest it at low moisture content, and you you will still get a high head rice yield with M105. It really has an excellent uh milling yield, even at 16 or 15 percent grain moisture. And and that is really significant, especially for growers who have less of acreage. I mean the logistic of harvesting. M105 is a great alternative if they cannot harvest it immediately.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Teresa's new M212 has shown some really good cold tolerance. It is kind of considered a longer maturing variety, but it's in between that M210, M206, and the M211. You know, it's a couple days shorter than the M211 and M209, but you know, a few days later maturing than the M210 and M206. But Teresa, whenever she's done her background with this, we know that M206 has excellent cold tolerance, meaning when the nighttime temperatures get below 55 at night, when that panicle is forming in the boot. During that stage, you know, nighttime temperatures below 55 can start blanking grain even before it comes out of the boot. And our cold tolerant varieties are less susceptible to that than some of our other ones. And M206 was probably our one of our most stable ones, M210 as well. But this new variety, M212, is has shown, at least in our cold studies that we've done during its development, has shown to be very cold tolerant. Also, Teresa might mention it, it gets told cold tolerance from the M206 and the 210 background that it has in it. But she also has an older variety that has some a lot of cold tolerance on the other side of the pedigree that's given additional cold tolerance. So we're really excited about the M212 as well from a cold tolerance standpoint.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

Yeah, the M212, at least from the statewide variety trial. So M212 was tested for seven years by UCCE in the statewide variety trial. And from the yield data that we we had, the M212 actually beat the M206 in Yuba and even in San Joaquin. So it has a great uh cold tolerance. And it looks like that M212 is also more lugging resistant than M206. So if there are some growers who don't like their rice to be lagging during harvest, I think this one is very promising.

SPEAKER_04 31:45

That's a great note there. Now, Teresa, I did want to ask, we kind of touched on this earlier, but the other new varieties that you're working with, can you explain a little bit about them and what some of their qualities are?

SPEAKER_02 31:58

Yeah, sure. So right now I my aim is really to develop a very early maturing uh medium grain that we can offer as an alternative to M105. So M105 is really great, it is early, it has high kneeling yield, and uh it has excellent grain quality, but we it's it's really not a great yielder. I mean, at least for the variety trial, it is not the overall winner. And so right now, at least we have these three promising lines in the pipeline, and they are very promising because they are early maturing. If they are as early, uh one is uh as early as M105, it is is a lot giving offering a six to five percent yield advantage over the M to 11. It is flowers at 86 days, it has low chalky grains and high mealing yield. So it's still at the very early stage of the statewide variety trials. So we'll see. We usually what keeps us from from releasing a variety every year is that uh our brights are usually tested for multiple years in the statewide variety trial. But we if we can reduce that for at least three years, we we hope we can come up with at by 2028 if if not in the near future.

SPEAKER_04 33:38

Absolutely. Any any other varieties you want to uh touch on here?

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Yeah, so this year we're also releasing a new variety out of the short grain breeding program, one called Calamylo 202. And this variety is considered a high-yielding, non-cubescent, low amylose short grain rice variety. Kind of is it's lower than our regular short grains, but higher than our sweet rice. So it's kind of in between these two, probably six to eight percent amylose content. And what this calamolo variety is good for is in Japan, where they have a lot of delis where they sell a lot of different rice products for lunches, it's in refrigerated containers. There's some large delis like 7-Eleven, we kind of consider it a gas station here, but in Japan it's it's a big deli. And everybody goes there for lunch, and they have all these different rice bento boxes and rice snacks and that they keep in this refrigerated form. And and what they'll do is they'll mix regular cow rose with this low amylose cow rose variety. And what that does is that lower amylose of the cow amylos helps hold the moisture in refrigeration, and so it can stay in the refrigerator longer and still have that shiny, non-dried out look to it, where cow rose by itself, because of the higher amylose content, will dry out faster. So it's kind of a niche market. We've had a cow amylo variety before, and its knock was, you know, it just didn't yield what our other varieties did. And so even though it's still being grown on contract now, you know, a regular rice grower probably wouldn't grow it because of the yield potential so low. Well, this new cow amalo has a yield potential similar to all of our other cow rose varieties, so we think it's gonna fill that niche and it might even grow that that market sector in the future. So we're kind of excited about this cow amalo. Now we did release a variety last year in word only, uh, because we didn't have any seed available, but uh we also released a val a variety called calamalo or calamore calamore. Calamore 201. Teresa, why don't you talk a little bit about that variety?

SPEAKER_02 35:59

Yeah, so it's a medium grain with bold bold grains. So it is it has this white belly or pearl, which is a signature grain attributes for arbore type uh rice. So it has a pedigree that traces back to Italian rice, and we bred it with medium grains here to increase its adaptability here in California, and so we call it cal amore, cal for California and amore for love that pay that pays homage to its Italian and California lineage. So it's a high-yielding arboreo-type rice that is very suitable for Italian risotto cooking.

SPEAKER_04 36:48

If I remember, Teresa, the chef surveys were really, really in favor of this variety. Can you touch on that?

SPEAKER_02 36:56

Yeah, so we were very excited with this Calamore 201 because it's very high-yielding and then it's also large-resistant compared to the Arborio Rice. And so before release, we collaborated with Dr. Anna McLone from USDA, and she directed us to Mr. Glenn Roberts in North Carolina that furtherly connected us to 20 culinary chefs from New York, San Francisco, Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Chicago. I think there's also one from Chicago. So those there were like 20 chefs in total who evaluated the Kala Amore, and they cook it for risotto cooking. And unanimously, they have agreed that it is better, it has better appearance, and it absorbs the the stuff when you cook it the risotto way. And so I think it's it's it's very it's really a very good alternative for that niche market. And if I may ask, we also sent this calamore to Italy with our Italian rice breeder. And they did some sensory analysis and they were pleased to say, yeah, that calamore is a big improvement over the arboreal rice because it's not only high-yielding, but it also absorbs that stuff and it is suitable to risotto cooking. And I may add, the leaves and the hull of calamore are glabrous. And so, you know, if you're a rice grower and you during hot and during harvesting time, you know, there are some rice varieties we have, like the kalmolchi, they have they are they are pubescent, and so during harvest time, it's really itchy to do the harvesting. They call it kal itchy, but we move farther away from that. We have improved that uh leaves and house of our rice variety to be smooth or glabrus.

SPEAKER_04 39:11

Yeah, and so in addition to it being more comfortable to work in, it's probably also easier on the harvesting equipment, right?

SPEAKER_02 39:18

Yeah. So we were really very excited with Calamore 201. So we hope that there will be some growers out there that will try growing it and hopefully it will compete with the arboreal type market because it's very it's a very good variety.

SPEAKER_04 39:35

Excellent. And so just so I'm clear, that's going to be available in the 2026 season?

SPEAKER_01 39:41

Foundation seed will be available. So it'll be available to seed rice growers this this first year, and then it'll be expanded in the next coming years, so it'll be more widely available.

SPEAKER_04 39:53

Okay, great. Thank you for that. So it sounds like you guys have done a lot of work in getting some of these new and improved varieties into the California rice market. And I know we mentioned a little bit about the short grain and the long grain programs. We're gonna have uh Dr. Frank Milana and Dr. Namal Sharma on as well, and we're going to talk a bit more in depth about their programs later on. Not in this episode, but later on in a different episode, because they've got some really interesting programs that they're working on as well. Um, with that, I'm gonna ask you too is there any other information you'd like to share about the California rice varieties?

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Well, we'll have on our I believe we'll have our field day on August 26 or 27.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Yeah, August 26th is gonna be on a Wednesday. And our field day is a basically our celebration for our research for the year where we you can come in and we'll have indoor talks, but we'll also have talks in the field and breeders and the extension agronomists and researchers with UCECE and UC Davis will be out there speaking as well. You can see the weed science research and learn about everything that's going on in in the rice industry. So we invite you all to come out and we'll even feed you lunch after afterwards.

SPEAKER_04 41:14

That's a great program. I think that's probably my favorite field day of the year, not only because of the food, but it's just a great opportunity to meet with rice growers and people in the rice industry all over California. So very, very highly recommend anybody who's in the area to go and attend. And with that, I'm gonna ask you to is there anywhere we can direct people to learn more about the information that we've talked about today?

SPEAKER_01 41:38

Sure. We actually have a website on the internet as www.crrf.org. And you can get on there and find out more about our varieties and and more about the station and everything you want to know.

SPEAKER_04 41:56

So with that, I'd like to just really extend our thanks and appreciation for you two taking the time out of your day to come and talk with us about this. Um, we're going to have you both on if you're willing at some point. But again, just really appreciate your time and your expertise and as well as your service to the California rice industry.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

Thank you, Sarah. Appreciate being here and thanks for having us on.

SPEAKER_02 42:16

Thank you, Sarah. Thank you for having us here.

SPEAKER_04 42:34

We have a couple of upcoming events we'd like to share with you. On February 24th, UC CE Rights Advisors will be participating in the WEED Management Area meeting for Sutter Yuba. That, again, is February 24th, and that will take place from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the UCCE Sutter Yuba office in New City. Later that week, on February 26th, UC CE Rights Advisors will be holding our third profile stewardship meeting. This one will be in the Calusa Industrial Properties Conference Room in Calusa, next to the UCCE Calusa office. That meeting will also take place from 9 till noon, and we will be providing lunch for that. An event I'd really like to emphasize here is the Rice Production Workshop, which will take place over two days, March 18th and March 19th, at Lundberg Family Farms in Richvale. Like I said, this is a two-day workshop. It's all day, 8:30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. both days. And this is this is a big meeting for us. We hold this meeting every two years or try to, and this gives us an opportunity to go through the rice production manual and cover in depth the principles and practices of rice farming in California. We have applied for DPR hours and CCA hours for both days for this meeting. We are asking that you register in advance though. Registration is required for this workshop. And there is a cost associated with it, but the cost will cover both days' lunches and meals and the cost of the rice production workshop manual, which every participant will get to follow along with at this meeting. If you're interested in signing up for this workshop, there will be a link in our show notes. On July 30th, UCCE will be partnering with the California Rice Commission to hold the Rice Quality Workshop. That will take place at Hillcrest Catering in Yubacity and will go from 9 till noon. This meeting will also have registration required. And although that link is not available yet, as soon as it is available, we will have it up on our websites. For more information about these and other upcoming events, feel free to check out our resources, which include the UC Rice blog and the UC Agronomy Rice website. In terms of other resources you might want to take advantage of, you can also look at our newsletters, which include Rice Briefs, which covers Calusiolo, Rice Notes, which covers Ubisetter, Rice Leaf, which covers Button Glen, and Field Notes, which covers rice in the Delta region of California. Thanks for listening to Thoughts on Rice, the University of California Cooperative Extension Podcast from the University of California Agricultural Natural Resources. You can find out more about this podcast on our website, thoughtsonrice.buzzsprout.com. We'd love to hear from you. Whether it's from using our text link in the show notes, a survey submission in our feedback form, also in the show notes, or in a comment or rating on your podcast streaming service of choice. You can email me with any comments, questions, or concerns at smarsh at ucanr.edu. Another year has begun and it feels like planting is right around the corner. And remember, like the growers like to say, have a race life. Mention of an agrochemical does not constitute a recommendation, merely the sharing of research findings. Always follow the label, the label is the law. Find out more at ipm.ucanr.edu. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of California. The material and information presented here is for general purposes only. The University of California name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner, and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.