These early fall storms are hit-and-miss.  Some fields saw hail, heavy or a light drizzle and others a downpour of up to one inch of rain.  High winds can cause rice to "lodge", where is lays down in the field, making for a slow tough harvest.

Only about 30% of the northern Sacramento Valley rice has been harvested.  The wet weather will only delay the rice harvest as long as it takes for the field to dry out enough for the harvesting equipment to operate in the fields. 

This wet weather could help green to mature and with the sunny wether in the forecast, farmers will be back at it in a few short days.

Farmers prefer to harvest rice when it has a moisture content of 18 percent to 22 percent.  Which is idea set up for the milling process and less cost for drying the rice.

In the areas hardest hit, the rice could lay down and start to decay or discolor if it doesn't dry out.

Growers prefer to use machinery that strips off the kernels, leaving the straw in the field.  The straw is disked or stomped into the soil, and the fields flooded over winter .  If the field is flattened, different machinery is used and the rice is cut near the base and close to the ground.  This makes for a slow process when time is of the essence.

"You can open yourself up to quality loss due to fissuring (of the kernels)" said Cass Mutter, farm advisor for UC Cooperative Extension, or the rice grains could dry at varying rates.

The price is based partially on overall quality.

Clark Becker, a rice grower in Biggs, said the recent storms brought him rain. He had some earlier varieties, and three-fourths of his fields are already harvested.

He's been farming rice for 12 years and last year was the worst he's seen.  He didn't harvest until November because the rain came, then came again.

He said, if some good weather blows through, the existing crop loss can be kept to a minimum.

Rice harvesters also have a tough time running in soggy soil.

"We'll let the ground dry out so we can get in there." Becker said.