Rice farmers in Northern California, specifically on the west side of the Sacramento Valley, planted less rice this spring due to another dry winter and lack of water for irrigation. This caused rice production to fall by 50% YoY and farm income to plummet, making farmers unable to hire workers since there would be no work in the mills. Half of the total state acreage for rice in California was left fallow due to the 4th year of drought state-wide. A price increase can be expected in the coming months due to a lack of supply as California is the 2nd highest producer of rice in the USA.