Familiar name returns to the region’s rice industry

The Rice Growers Association LLC rice brokerage opened for business Wednesday in Yuba City.

CEO Pat Daddow said the company name pays homage to the Rice Growers Association cooperative that once operated in West Sacramento. The cooperative closed in November 2000 amid financial problems and insurmountable debt.

Daddow said that he and the families of other officials with the new RGA have ties to the West Sacramento cooperative, but the Yuba City operation will essentially operate as rice broker between farmers and mills, with a goal to “provide consumers the best quality and safest rice in the world”

RGA said it will be involved in the entire farm-to-fork process, from the first soil prep to farming, warehousing, transportation and milling processes.

RGA also says it has worked to develop business relationships with international marketers to “open new doors for premium California rice.”

“We are an innovative new company using leading-edge technology along with first-hand know-how to produce premium rice,” Daddow said in a statement. “That know-how was earned by the generations of farming families that came before us. We humbly honor and acknowledge that deep, long and rich heritage.

“If there are mixed reactions to the name of our company and the long history of the RGA name, we will assuredly continue the tradition of innovation that the former company brought to the rice-farming community.”

More information can be found at rgarice.com.

This story was originally published May 11, 2016 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Familiar name returns to the region’s rice industry."