Preparation and harvesting

The cultivation of rice begins by planting water-soaked seeds in a properly prepared bed. Oftentimes, the seedlings are transplanted to the paddy when they reach a certain size. When the grains begin to ripen, the water is drained from the fields. Harvesting begins when the grain yellow and the plants start to droop. Depending on the size of the operation and the amount of mechanization, rice is either harvested by hand or machine. Once harvested, the rice is usually dried in the fields with the help of sunshine. Then, the fields are plowed before planting. In the United States, rice is most often planted on river deltas and plowing is accomplished with a disk plow, an off-set disk plow, or a chisel. Adequate irrigation of the terrace or river delta bed is required and talented by leveling and by scheming water with pumps, reservoirs, ditches, and streams. Seeds are sown by hand. After 30-50 days of growth, the seedlings are transplanted in bunches from nursery beds to flooded paddies. Seeds can also be sown using a machine called a drill that places the seed in the ground. Larger enterprises often found in the United States sow rice seed by airplane. Low-flying planes distribute seed onto already flooded fields. An average distribution is 90-100 lb per acre (101-111 kg per hectare), creating roughly 15-30 seedlings per square foot. At the processing plant, the rice is cleaned and hulled. At this point, brown rice needs no further processing. If white rice is desired, the brown rice is milled to remove the outer bran layers. Sickles. This practice still occurs in many Asian countries. Rice can also be harvested by a mechanized hand harvester or by a tractor/horse-drawn machine that cuts and stacks the rice stalks. In the United States, most operations use large combines to harvest and thresh—separate the grain from the stalk—the rice stalks. The milling procedure that produces white rice also removes much of the vitamins and minerals found primarily in the outer bran layers. Further processing is often done in order to restore the nutrients to the grain. Once complete, the rice is called converted rice. Once done, the rice is steamed, dried, and then milled. Rice that has already been milled can be submersed in a vitamin and mineral bath that coats the grains. Once soaked, they are dried and mixed with unconverted rice.