An Answer May Lie Up Above
In the 1990s, River Garden Farms and others first began using water during the winter months to decompose of the rice straw after harvest. This was a solution to eliminate the smoke-filled skies that came as a result of burning the remaining straw. The response up and down the Sacramento Valley was that of legend.
In short time, millions of shore birds and various waterfowl returned to California that few generations had witnessed before. Now, that same water on the rice fields is being used for more than just birds.
Located along the Sacramento River in Knights Landing, River Garden Farms, has the unique opportunity to borrow water, spread it out on the fields, let the sunlight and water break down the rice straw and watch as the carbon and algae by-products help produce billions of bugs at a time when the fields are not used for growing rice.
“By borrowing water from the river for a few weeks, and then returning it full of fish food, we believe we can have a dramatic impact on the salmon populations,” said Roger Cornwell, General Manager of River Garden Farms. “We are getting more pop for each drop and using it for multiple benefits.”
River Garden Farms is discovering that its fields can be used to grow crops for people in the spring and summer, while serving as habitat for birds in the fall and now as a place to help create food for endangered fish in the winter.
“We believe when we do it this way, we give the salmon a chance to live out a success story like we’ve seen with the ducks, geese and shorebirds,” said Cornwell.
This project is crucial because the river is too swift and too deep to create the type of food energy source that the salmon need for their arduous journey to the Pacific Ocean.
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