The Lundbergs have been growing rice since 1937. Over the years, they have sunk a lot of money into their operation to make sure their product is as clean as can be. For example, organic standards require that rice silos be refrigerated to suppress insects rather than fumigated with chemicals, so a large capital investment is required. In addition, it costs about $22 an acre more to produce organic rice than conventional, due to added costs for extra tractor and hand work pulling weeds, among other requirements.

That is, unless you follow the method of Japanese rice farmer Masanobu Fukuoka. This man, the author of The One Straw Revolution, a book about his experiences growing rice, told me that he achieved enlightenment when he stopped asking himself, “What can I do next to grow rice better?” and started asking himself, “What can I stop doing to grow rice better?” After a number of years wrestling with the question, he decided to scatter rice seed amid the clover that was growing in his paddy. When the rice grew to a foot tall, he would flood his paddy, killing the clover, which would then decay and fertilize the paddy. When the rice was ripe and ready to harvest, he’d scatter clover seed among the rice plants, harvest the rice, and cut the stalks—the stalk clippings would then decay themselves and give the clover plants a good source of fertilizer. When the clover was lush, he’d scatter rice seed then flood the paddy again, and another yearly cycle would begin. Today he’s got it down to three operations a year—most rice farmers are out in the paddies working all year long. And his yields are as good as if not better than his conventional neighbors. His rice is sold only in Japan, but his Zen way of thinking is applicable to our hustle-bustle way of doing things.

Another grower, Lowell Farms, produces organic jasmine rice on a farm in El Campo, Texas. Linda Raun and her husband Lowell G. operate the business and sell a long-grain jasmine rice called Jasmine 85 (the year it was developed from Thai jasmine rice) from coast to coast through retail, and even more through mail order. Their rice is grown under USDA organic rules. The Texas Department of Agriculture oversees the certification. The rice is very aromatic and very high quality.

Meanwhile, Glenn Roberts at Anson Mills, a certified organic rice grower and processor in South Carolina, is reviving an old heirloom variety of American rice that dates back to the antebellum south, called Carolina Golden Rice. “It was the most popular rice on earth from 1720 until the Civil War,” he says. “So much so, that Carolina Golden Rice allocations to royals in Asia became the reason for battles there. Also, until 1930, most rice produced in the United States for retail was labeled ‘Carolina Rice,’ whether it was grown in the Carolinas or not.” Once he mentioned that, I remembered the Carolina Rice jingle on the radio during my childhood: “serve it in a dozen ways, take my advice, nothin’ could be finer than some Carolina Rice.”

Carolina Golden Rice is softer than normal long-grain rice and cooks to independent grains. Roberts says that “this heirloom rice was named Carolina Gold for its beauty at harvest and the fortunes made from it by the antebellum Carolina and