Rice! The Newest Local Food!

Local Vermont rice. Sounds like an oxymoron, right? 

I’ve always associated rice farming with tropical locations – India, Vietnam, China…. However, starting a few years ago, 3 ingenious Vermont farmers started trying to grow rice here! Northern Japan, they reasoned, has a climate even colder than Vermont’s and grows plenty of rice. 

^{Local rice from Boundbrook Farm is here!}

The result? As of yesterday, for the first time in the history of Burlington, we have local rice on our shelves!

^{Erik Andrus with one of his rice plants. (AP Photo/TobyTalbot)}

Erik Andrus is the farmer of this new local grain. His land, Boundbrook Farm, is in Ferrisburgh, just 20 minutes down the road from the Co-op. 

^{The rice paddy in Ferrisburgh}

Erik’s fields in Vermont’s Champlain Valley are lined with clay soils which naturally retain water. Growing rice at Boundbrook Farm turned out to aligned with the land and water resources naturally available. The paddies have also fostered habitat for amphibians and birds – Erik notes he frequently heard calls of four species of frogs this summer and had many visits from yellow-legged sandpipers, great blue herons and snowy egrets.

^{Ducks help control weeds in the rice paddy.}

The paddies are home to other animals as well – Erik keeps ducks in with the rice to help remove weeds and pests.

^{The rice paddy looks like just another flooded field from afar!}

We now have local short grain brown rice and polished white rice on our shelves. Erik mills the rice (removing the husk and bran from the kernels) after we place our orders – rice that is freshly milled rice is supposed to be more flavorful. Indeed, the rice cooks up creamy and delicious in our staff trials.

We’ll only see about 600 pounds of this rice pass through the Co-op this winter so quantities are extremely limited. Hopefully it will become more of a local staple as Erik’s production expands and perhaps other Vermont farmers follow his lead. 

Read more about Erik's farm and see more photos here.