A message from Robert Stewart, Foundation Seed Program Advisor:
Now is the time to plan for requests of Rice Experiment Station (RES) Foundation Rice Seed for the 2012 production year. Varieties released from the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation (CCRRF) are available toCaliforniarice seed growers who plan to produce registered seed this year.
The allocation of Foundation Rice Seed from CCRRF is through the Foundation Seed Program (FSP) at UC Davis. Requests for Foundation Seed will be due in the FSP office by Friday, February 24, 2012. Hopefully we can make allocations in the first week of March.
Request submissions by web site may be done by going to the CCIA home page at http://ccia.ucdavis.edu. Click on the link to Foundation Rice Seed Request Form. After you submit the form you will be able to print out a page with all the information for your records. Submit a separate form for each variety requested.
CCRRF will have the following varieties of Foundation rice seed available for allocation in 2012:
L-206 M-104 M-105 M-202 M-205
M-206 M-208 M-401 M-402 S-102
Calhikari-201 Calhikari-202* Calmati-202 Calmochi-101
*Experimental 04Y177 has been approved for release as Calhikari-202. It is a 2nd generation California premium quality short grain, it is a little earlier, a little better in yield, milling and cooking quality than Calhikari-201. There is only a very small amount of foundation seed and only 4 lots of ~25 cwt available for distribution for 2012. The CCRRF Board of Director approved this release to get some seed production for and commercial scale evaluation in the premium quality short grain markets. Allocation of this new release will be done in cooperation with RES.
This year's price for Foundation seed has yet to be established. By mid February, we will have the price and amounts available for each variety or the statistics that help in the allocations. For that or any additional information, call Robert Stewart at 530-752-9826 or email rfstewart@ucdavis.edu.