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trade reps for their services has been a problem, she said. Most California wild rice is marketed domestically. With the loss of Russia, the advisory board has shifted its focus and trade-promotion funds to othermarkets, Carranza said. For now, shippers may need to send more volume to the United Kingdom, which remains the top export destination for Californiawild rice. They used to ship more product to Turkey, Carranza said, but tariffs havemade that market less at- tractive. Canada may be another outlet, and later China, to which the board is working to gainmarket access. Even with the loss of Russia, Carranza said she does not think growers of wild rice will be deterred from planting the crop, as “there are enough opportuni- ties in other parts of the world that they can pursue.” Besides California, Minnesota is the only other state that grows wild rice. In 2020, California produced some 7.2 mil- lion pounds of the specialty grain, while Minnesotaproduced7.92millionpounds. With about 10,000 acres in the state, wild rice remains a niche crop, especial- ly compared to the more than 550,000 acres of traditional rice California typi- cally grows. Due towater shortages, state rice plantings are expected to drop to 348,000 acres this year—the lowest since
1983, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Shasta County farmer Jim Rickert, who has been growing wild rice for 40 years, said water availability and ris- ing input costs, especially for fertilizer, were key factors influencing his plant- ing decisions. He seeded his crop in the fall, planting his usual 400 acres, though he has grown as many as 600 to 700 acres. With the drought, his concern now, he said, is whether the state will allow him to use his water rights to finish the crop. “We’re in unprecedented times,” Rickert said. “I’mgrowing this crop on faith. The rules are changing as we speak.” Wi th the pr ice of Cal rose medi - um-grain rice looking more favorable than wild rice—and with high demand for water to keep orchards alive—Rickert saidhe expects little tonowild rice grown in the Sacramento Valley this year. In the past, when wi ld-rice acre- age was up in the 15,000 to 20,000 range, plantings were split between t he mount a i n reg i ons o f Sha s t a , Modoc and Lassen counties and the Sacramento Valley, with some acreage in Lake County. This year, mountain growers and those with senior water rights or well water are expected to plant most of the wild-rice acreage, he said. With the cost of fertilizer and fuel escalating, “that’s not going to encour-
age a lot of people to expand produc- tion at all,” he added. For California olive oil producers, impacts from the Russia-Ukraine war— which has sparked a global shortage of sunflower oil, raising demand for other cooking oils—so far have beenminor. While attending the Natural Products Expo West in March, Susanna Evans, sales manager for ENZO Olive Oil Co. in Fresno County, said people stopped by her booth to ask about pricing—and about whether the company also pro- duces sunflower oil. Because sunflow- er oil costs “much less” than California olive oil, she said, it isn’t considered a viable substitute. Jonathan Sc iabi ca of Sc iabi ca’s California Olive Oil in Modesto said de- mand for the company’s oil has remained steady, even though the company has had to raise its prices due to skyrocket- ing costs. Sean McCauley, who sells 80% to 85% of his olive oil via his retail store in Contra Costa County, said his wholesale business and sales to food service have remained “pretty static.” But retail sales have seen a “double-digit spike.” He attributed the growth to shoppers becomingmore savvy about olive oil and wanting to support local farmers. (ChingLeeisanassistanteditorofAgAlert. Shemaybe contactedat clee@cfbf.com.)
She said there could also be more market pressure from other EU coun- tries such as France, another major ap- ple producer that may need to look for additional markets. More immediately, California produc- ers of wild rice have already lost a key ex- port market: Russia. Carranza, who also oversees trade for the California Wild Rice Advisory Board, said a recent car- go ship headed to Russia with California wild ricewas rejected at the port and had to return. It is technically still legal to ship wild rice to Russia because the commodity is not included in the U.S. embargo list, she said. But the problem is logistics, as ex- porters are having trouble finding ocean carriers willing to go there. Major ship- ping lines have said they have suspended service to and fromRussia. “At this point, we pretty much lost that market for our wild rice,” Carranza said. Up until the war started, the adviso- ry board had been “actively conducting promotions” of California wild rice in Russia with a “pretty full-blown and ro- bust” program, she said. The advisory board had hired an in-country repre- sentative, built a website and promoted the product on social media in Russian. Now, with U.S. sanctions and banks not allowing wire transfers to Russia, paying
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10 Ag Alert April 27, 2022
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