Rice Farming

Rice dryer at Glenn Growers

Growing rice for the Carriere Family has been a labor of love for over six decades and five generations. Wilfred Carriere (Papa) started in the rice farming business by clearing the ground of native trees with dynamite and a 3T Caterpillar dozer. Papa planted his first 207 acres of rice in Glenn County in 1940. Today, Carriere Family Farms has grown papa's legacy into 1,300 acres in Glenn and Butte Counties. On a typical year Carriere Family Farms produces over 11,600,000 pounds (116,000 cwt) of rice. Carriere Family Farms grows mostly medium grain Cal Rose varieties, M205, M401, and M206. These varieties are well suited to the heavy clay soils and warm climate of the Sacramento Valley.

In 1954, Papa was one of the pioneers in starting the rice drying cooperative, Glenn Growers. Papa and fourteen other local farmers joined together to form a very successful operation that continues to prosper today. Glenn Growers receives, cleans, dries and stores over 1.4 million bags of paddy rice per season. It is one of the most respected rice dryers in the valley.

Utilizing Glenn Growers for our rice drying provides professional drying and storage services to ensure maximum quality for Carriere Family Farms' production.

In the early days of Papa's farming career, he also operated a machine shop on the ranch, repairing and building equipment for himself and other local farmers. Out of this machine shop, Papa left another great legacy, a rice combine he built from scratch in 1952. Building the combine took two years and it was one of the first self propelled combines ever built. This combine is still used on the farm today. Even with today's high tech farming equipment, Papa's combine stands as an iconic symbol for Carriere Family Farms of the hard work and dedication it takes to succeed.

In 1967, Wilfred turned the rice operation over to his son Dick Carriere. Dick began the transformation of the farm in to the efficient operation that it must be to survive in today's environment. Carriere Family Farms currently grows rice using the latest technology in farming. All of our fields are laser leveled for maximum water conservation. Many also have water return and recovery systems in place to further maximize water utilization and minimize any pesticide runoff.

Burning of rice straw after harvest was common practice in years past, but over the past few years Carriere Family Farms has phased out all burning and currently reincorporates all of the straw using flooding and ground work to decompose the straw. Dick Carriere was serving on the board of the California Rice Research Board as many of the newer rice varieties changed from tall stature and longer growing varieties, to shorter stature, shorter season, higher yielding varieties that produce less straw. Working the straw into the soil and flooding also attracts and provides habitat for thousands of migratory birds during the winter months when the fields are fallow.

Although Dick still comes to work almost every day, Gary Enos is in charge of the Carriere rice operation today. Gary brings over 30 years of pest management and farming experience to the team. Gary, who has his Pest Control Advisor's (PCA) license, uses the same Integrated Pest Management approach that is used on all Carriere Family Farms property. Most of the acres we farm have been in the family for generations, and it is Gary's responsibility to preserve those acres and keep them productive for the next generation which is now in the fifth generation with Jason Enos, Gary's oldest son in the position to learn the rice farming business from his father.

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