Producer
Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District (GCID)
Largest irrigation district serving the California Sacramento Valley rice belt. Receives Central Valley Project water from Lake Shasta via Bureau of Reclamation; serves ~240,000 acres of rice and other crops in Glenn and Colusa counties. 100% CVP water allocation in 2023-2024 after near-zero (0-18%) in 2022 drought.
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Surface Water Delivery (Rice Irrigation)
80%Waterfowl Habitat Leasing
15%Water Resource Programs
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Did you know2023
GCID's 240,000 acres of flooded rice fields simultaneously serve the California rice production supply chain (agricultural) and the Pacific Flyway migratory bird habitat supply chain (conservation/wildlife). When Sacramento Valley rice farmers flood their fields after harvest each fall, they recreate the wetland habitat that existed before the Central Valley was drained and farmed in the 19th century. The flooded rice stubble fields attract millions of ducks, geese, shorebirds, and other migratory waterfowl that use the Pacific Flyway between Alaska, Canada, and Central America — including endangered species like the Aleutian Canada Goose and the Tule White-fronted Goose. California Department of Fish and Wildlife and organizations like Ducks Unlimited fund GCID farmers to flood fields post-harvest specifically for migratory bird habitat. When drought causes GCID to fallow rice fields (as in 2022 when water allocation was near zero), the Pacific Flyway migratory bird stopover habitat shrinks dramatically alongside the rice supply chain disruption. The rice farmer's irrigation supply chain and the migratory bird conservation infrastructure are literally the same flooded fields.
California Rice Commission ↗Origin2023
The Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District was established in 1920 in Willows, California to systematize water delivery from the Sacramento River to the clay-pan soils of Glenn and Colusa counties — soils that retain water naturally and were found in the early 20th century to be well-suited for japonica rice cultivation. California rice was introduced by Japanese-American farmers in the Sacramento Valley around 1910, who recognized that the Sacramento Valley's clay-pan floors, long hot summers, and abundant Sacramento River water supply created ideal conditions for the short/medium-grain rice varieties they had grown in Japan. GCID became the water delivery infrastructure that made the Sacramento Valley rice belt possible. The district's dependence on Bureau of Reclamation Central Valley Project water creates an exposure to drought allocation decisions that was starkly demonstrated in 2022, when GCID received only 0-18% of its contracted water allocation due to Shasta Reservoir drought conditions — causing most of the district's rice acreage to fallow for the year. The Sacramento Valley produces approximately 20% of all US rice and the great majority of japonica rice consumed by Japanese-Americans and exported to Japan and other Asian markets; GCID's water allocation determines whether that supply chain operates at all in any given year.
Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District ↗