Seeding California Rice by Plane in this Air Tractor Video!

In this air tractor video we are finally seeding rice! The 2019 California rice crop is nearly planted. Watch the rice seed fall like rain from the agriculture planes. That's right! After all the tractor work this spring we are ready to seed our rice fields.
This air tractor video features a fleet of G164 Super B Ag Cats from Williams Ag Service in Biggs, California. We'll see them in action over rice country!
Link to my aerial tour of our winter rice fields with Shawn:
• Aerial Tour of Califor...
Link to my episode on scum/algae in our rice fields:
• Attack of the Evil Scum!
Thank you for watching! Thank you to all the crop duster pilots out there for doing such great work throughout the crop year. These pilots do a hard job in dangerous conditions. It's surprising, thank goodness, that an air tractor crash is so rare.
🔴 Subscribe! Stay updated with California rice production: goo.gl/pOjVfO
Please share this episode if you found it entertaining and/or educational.
🔴 Recommended Playlist "Rice Farming TV | Starting at Episode 1": goo.gl/j25ujs
✅ Please contact me with any questions or feedback. I will make an effort to respond within 24 hours.

[@DailyDoseOfInternet]

Thank you!

[@ngvyen9109]

Only 16 likes?

[@purplerunner1715]

Hat off to all the bush and ag-pilots out there. May the winds forever guide you to a safe return.

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Beautifully said! Thank you. -M.

[@koosvanzyl2605]

"Winds Guide you" ?????

[@TNsher776]

Growing up in Placer County as a kid I knew it was summer every time I would see or hear a rice crop plane flying! I make my home in Tennessee these days!

[@whzheng5742]

Very exciting! I am a rice researcher from China, we plant rice in such a different way. Thanks for your video so that I can experience the process of rice planting in the United States so intuitively.

[@User-nu6km]

you just need to mechanize your industry

[@sammuse1619]

Shawn was my instructor when I was learning to fly. Great guy!!

[@oceanmariner]

I grew up in the area. Before GPS, flagmen on the berm marked each pass for the pilot. As a kid in the 50s & 60s, I hunted pheasants between Knights Landing and Colusa and walked many cut rice fields with the owners ok. I remember when the farmers first flooded their fields, all the rats that were living in the plowed fields ended up on the roads between the fields. Some years there must have been millions. It was fun for a kid to see the prop planes and their maneuvers after each pass. It seemed like every ag airport had several WWII trainers & others being robbed for parts. Another hazard for pilots must have been the great flocks of birds of all kinds. I don't suppose they burn the rice stubble anymore. If you could stand the smoke, the fire chased out the pheasants on the down wind side.

[@NorthViewModelShop]

Love this episode.. love how airplanes are used to seed the field. Keep up the great work Matt

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Glad you enjoyed, Jan! Thank you for the message. -M,

[@stevenpdxedu]

I love to eat rice, thanks to you and all the other farmers that make that happen. So few people stop to really think about how much work that is.

[@ameladeonn9558]

Hi warm greetings. Hope you're doing great over there?.. if don't mind.I have investment proposition you could play in and make fixed income on a daliy/weekly ROI. If you're interested, take mine number we'll talk on whatsapp.

[@davidblanck4131]

This video answered every question I asked. Thanks for the in depth explanation about seeding.

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Hi David, glad you enjoyed! Thanks for the message.

[@jimd9511]

Sure brings back lots of memories. My uncle flying on the seed and fertilizer onto my grandpa's rice field. That's how I grew up.

[@ke6gwf]

I am always up and down i5, and I love watching these guys flying all over the fields and the freeway. Awesome video!

[@patmancrowley8509]

Thank you Matt, thank you Sean, for this wonderful video! Peace, Love and Happiness to ya'll.

[@walterkersting1362]

That slo mo of the air tractor dropping seed was beautiful.

[@curtweatherbee2523]

Thank you Mr. Rice Farmer ❤️👍🏻

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Curt Weatherbee totally my pleasure. Thanks for the message. -Matthew

[@paulgimenez1846]

Good to see you were able to get the fields planted. Really enjoyed the inflight footage. Here’s to a great grow season and thanks for another great and informative video.

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Thank you very much, Paul! -Matthew

[@AlohaMilton]

Fantastic cinematography of the rice falling from the aircraft! Love the slow motion rain of rice seeds in the shot you track the plane right over your head. Beautiful!

[@mamiller1980]

Growing a crop that requires massive amount of water in what is essentially a desert. Hats off to smart farming.

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Sheepdog, while much of southern California (Los Angeles) is a dessert, we grow rice in the north state where, unless in a drought year, is water rich with reservoirs. We have been farming rice for over 100 years up here. Thanks for the message. -Matthew

[@frantucker608]

Very exciting! Who would've thunk it! LOL Thanks so much for this great series! Congrats on getting your seed in!

[@alpbilenler]

California - seems like a great place for farming with flooded fields of irrigation water

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Yep!

[@asiaexpat62]

Thanks for the video, it brought back memories of my 1970s time building flying time and skills working the rice field in Louisiana. Flew an Ag cat with a R980 radial engine. We used roads for landing strips near the fields.

[@Milosz_Ostrow]

Well done! I love to learn how our foods and all the goods we need to maintain our lives are produced, things that are normally hidden by a wall of advertising and marketing.

[@THEVROD64]

Thank you for your California perspective on growing rice. Very different in Texas.

[@loadpin]

Excellent video once again. This series has been very educational on all the aspects or most of the aspects of what you go through growing rice.

[@charleswillcock3235]

Another classic episode.

[@SLCFarms]

Another great video Matt thanks for sharing as usual. Happy farming.

[@jesusmejia827]

Thanks for your time

[@davetruther31]

Man this brings back so many memories for me as a cane and rice grower in south Florida years ago..

[@bernexf4694]

Amazing, everyone living in the city should watch videos like this one to appreciate where his food comes from.

[@jerryd6680]

A great fun video to watch, worked in Willows CA contracting for the local Electric Co. surrounded by rice fields, watching those planes seed was breathtaking, flying over the freeway, doing there turns, loops, watching the flaggers, almost running off the road, I can't wait for the next video.....

[@SuperAliceleo]

Wow Matthew you have put together a wonderful video, excellent explanation on everything going on with the farming operation, giving enough information on future videos to keep us looking for the instalment. Thank You for the effort put into producing these videos for us to watch and enjoy. Have a great day.

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Thank you for this wonderful message. I'm really happy to hear that you enjoyed learning about the seeding process. I just love the visuals and when good info comes with it--it makes it a fun video to do. Have a great week. -Matthew

[@katherinekelly5380]

Wow! That is so interesting, I didn’t realize rice could be planted this way

[@trbowlin]

Too cool. Looking forward to seeing the b-roll

[@Raaaawrrrrrr]

This answers SO MANY questions about what's going in the fields around my drive up and down the 99 from Sac to Oroville. Thank you!! Would love to see a meetup of the prune or walnut farms!

[@craigkeller]

Used to have an air tractor like this one decades ago on the Big Island to fertilize sugar cane. Watching them was like your own private air show. Awesome display!

[@benjaminbauer4883]

Thanks for the video!!!!

[@wranther]

Great to see how uniformly a flown on seed application originates from the plane to the ponds Matthew! Happy Rice Growing 2019. -Bob...

[@dscott130]

Cool stuff. Thx!

[@adamholmans4842]

Great video I just love how you present them great editing the different angle on the plane amazing keep up The good work i will carry on watching here in england!

[@davidsquall351]

Shawn got a badass job! Heres to a good season!

[@hugovanwoerden578]

here in Thailand they do it in a different way. very good to make a video of this. GOD Bless you.

[@martinmaloney7294]

Great as always , you really could do 20 episodes about the plane , training , maintenance, costs and other services they provide .

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Thank you Martin. It’s true. I need to get a job over there and do several videos! -M.

[@chriholt]

That was one of the most fascinating videos you’ve done Matt, big thanks!

[@sacju6517]

Another great video Matthew! I've learned so much about rice farming from your videos. My wife thinks I'm weird that I'm fascinated by all this. Ha Ha!

[@Ricefarmingtv]

HA! My wife thinks I'm weird for all sorts of reasons. :) But that's okay. -Matthew

[@fletcher3913]

Another, informative and entertaining video, Mattew. I am always happy to see your videos show up in my subscriber feed.

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Thank you Mr. Fletcher! That means a lot to me. Always great to hear from you. -M.

[@thomasricksmith8171]

Great video! I love photographing these guys!

[@johnd.5964]

What a great channel. Just found it. Thank you for the time and effort you clearly put into your videos. As an ag pilot in the Midwest it's interesting to see the seeding process. (We use a helicopter). Anyway, keep up the good work, and there was me thinking that only fruits and nuts came from CA.

[@tomeverett2212]

I have watched these flyers many times. I admire their skill and precision.

[@gaosayvu6554]

Wow thanks for sharing

[@LukeStrife]

Really love those aerial shots!

[@rjeff753]

First saw you on blancolirio. Great job and thank you for all you do to help provide.. Much different than helping my uncle growing cotton. That air planting reminds me of when we finally had aerial spraying. What a time saver that was to help control the pests especially the weevils.

[@tnoel374]

Great video and the info was great too.

[@jamesmckay9966]

Excellent!

[@donshilo2024]

Your work crew are bad ass you can see the coordination they have.

[@AREA-sj4ec]

love it... i could watch the flying part all day.

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Jonathan Naylor you’ll really like the upcoming episode then. All goPro footage on the plane! Thanks for the message. -M.

[@robertreznik9330]

That is a quick planting...back in the 1970's, I had some wheat planted by air into soybeans in September but no rain to germinate. Seem like we have been planting forever and just like 2 days here in Texas with our 12 row planter. We planted over a month to get in 620 acres of cotton and 1220 of corn. Hope the fish don't think you are feeding their young.

[@hokevin5455]

Hey, Matthew. How are you doing? It is nice to see the seed rain above your field again. A year passed so quickly.

[@Bagndux88]

Great video again Matt. It was to here when those 2 AG pilots crashed into each other and died. This guys do and awesome job I’m glad you made this video just to show all the things they go threw to seed the rice fields.

[@JohnDoe-jq5wy]

Thank you, very interesting

[@brandonwise4763]

Real sky cowboy helping feeding America thanks for sharing

[@meanjoegreen4925]

great video thanks for sharing

[@Mariotonio]

Great vídeo Matthew! Here in Brazil we do The same. Rice uses a lot of planes. There are around 5 or 6 aerial aplications on our Rice fields. Have a Nice crop season!

[@josephsliger3308]

Great video. I know exactly where this field is. Very educational. Thank you.

[@vijayareddy8847]

awesome sir

[@thomasthomas4954]

Very informative.

[@jankotze1959]

First time a see how you plant rice, that was awesome

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Cool Jan! Glad I could provide a good look at how we plant rice. That was fun and your message means a lot! Thank you. -M.

[@RandysFiftySevenChevy]

This was a great presentation that should be included in educating our children. Absolutely assume editing and photography , How you find the time to do that is probably a whole episode. Loved it Matthew

[@dLimboStick]

Amazing shots! Excellent video!!

[@SonneFarms]

Fantastic video, super cool to learn about how you get your field work done!

[@jayakumarg802]

Superbly explained with very deep analysis report in your speech.

[@tjsmyth1741]

Well done Sir!

[@soaringeagle123321]

Why this came recommended in my feed, I don't know, but it sure was fun watching you, Matthew, and all the people working so hard to have a successful rice season!! You have an inspirational and attractive style of talking and communicating. Now you have a new subscriber :))

[@mangeshpatil5930]

Amazing..

[@MFKR696]

I would say this is much better than the only other modern alternative for seeding rice fields, that being paddy-tractors with tires so thin that it becomes problematic when pulling weight.

[@Grainexpress]

We raise poverty grass(wheat) here in the Midwest. Just came across this vid and subbed to the channel. Love what you are doing to educate the non Ag sector about farming.

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Thanks for the message and for tuning into the channel. Where exactly in the midwest do you farm? -Matthew

[@Grainexpress]

@@Ricefarmingtv South of Vincennes, Indiana. About 50 miles north of the Ohio River. We raise Corn, Wheat, Soybeans & potatoes. We did raise pigs, 200 sows farrow to finish, but the sows left in 2013 and the last group of contract piggies left in March of this year. Here is my Farm channel I share with my sons. They make videos and I make a few. kzbin.info

[@traviswhitworth1689]

@@Grainexpress have even ever entertained the thought of growing popcorn? Im only 30 miles or so from ya , South by southeast and I work for a couple fellas that do popcorn, I enjoy it and the money tends to average out a little better? Just a thought... Hope you have a great growing year bud! (Well if the rain ever stops.....)

[@Grainexpress]

Travis Whitworth we raised some years ago and it just never really worked out. Non GMO beans seem to pay good. 😉

[@jmcook9441]

Hey matt great job on this video.

[@jimharris4013]

Are you grateful you are not plowing with a water buffalo and planting one rice plant at a time? Which method old way or new produces more pounds of rice per acre?

[@Baronstone]

Planting by hand is always going to produce more pounds per acres because you can guarantee the field gets planted perfectly.

[@skswig1]

Turbo AG plane is so cool.

[@karlmcaidey1084]

God bless your hardworking bro

[@antr7493]

i would have never thought rice would be a crop in CA considering the water needs

[@the-troublemaker]

My questions - : 1. the plane comes from East Germany? 2. You have enough water in California for rice cultivation?

[@alexveldhuis6004]

@@the-troublemaker I have worked in the region years ago. It is the Sacramento Valley. A large flat region of what they call alluvial flat, where all the good soil ends up. The Sacramento river is diverted off on to channels for irrigation all along most of its length. It is a very productive region as it has a great growing climate as well. Almonds, walnuts, rice, tomatoes in their millions of tonnes. Google it.

[@courtlandhoggan8359]

Waldo Ricer! I came to watch the air tractor. I now have to know how rice works.

[@DonnerPassWhisky]

Fantastic video Matt the airborne footage combined with the ground footage of the rice grains hitting the water looked great. Interesting information about presoaking the rice so it falls straight through the water. The GPS must be a helpful thing, when my brother was a teenager he briefly had a job flagging for crop dusters guess they don't need that anymore.

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Glad you enjoyed. I quizzed Mr. Williams of Williams Ag Service and he said they haven't needed flaggers since 1992. Pretty interesting. I get a few people who mention that they once flagged or knew someone who flagged for crop-dusters. -M.

[@jasonutley7169]

I am a fellow rice farmer in Arkansas the fields we have in this farm are hillsides and full of levees we do our planting with a drill truly like the vid

[@thecrazymanfromireland]

Very interesting 👍👍👍👍

[@walterkersting1362]

I’m a prepper; I have over a hundred pounds of rice. I got it on clearance for about 10c a pound; my understanding is it keeps indefinitely.

[@pootthatbak2578]

Amazing, that when viewing pictures of the baby rice just 3 inches out of the water, you can make out rows. Even though the seed was dropped from 40 feet above the ground, at 120mph, it somehow formed rows

[@MyBombita]

Thats so cool,always see that plane when driving on I5🚛. Everytime it cares me when it flies over.

[@kathiravan2901]

Im a farmer guy from India 🇮🇳..You are really show us a modern and efficient way to cultivate rice...Here in india we use a huge manpower to farm fields......i really wanted to learn your farming methods from you...so i just want to do job in your field...so plz reply

[@johnnydavis8351]

Was that Oroville dam?.. certainly hope you boys are behind that monster.. awesome video 🇺🇸👍 👍 thanks for sharing 🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@oldamericaniron5767]

I like the old D7, looks like an old 3T, pony start converted to electric start. I can’t here it but I know the non-turbo, straight pipe sound as I have one. You can lug them down til you can almost count the firing and it will come back.

[@diegopalomino1200]

Nice video.

[@billnboo4u]

that was great have a great season oh great iv said great to much thats just great

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Will thank you for the great comment! Have a great rest of the week. :) -Matthew

[@southronjr1570]

Now ain't that a sight, a turboprop biplane

[@bretatvs]

More like a biplane air tractor!

[@smartscience9733]

Woow very useful

[@ghops24]

I’m just ready for harvest!

[@HartungFamilyFarms]

Hey Matthew! Great video! Question I have for you is how in depth is your weed/pest control plan? Do you guys apply chemicals? Thanks as always

[@Billyboy4209]

Some of the best crawfish come from the California rice fields... lol

[@skynut831]

That is something I did not know!I do not live under a rock but have never heard of Cali. crawfish !Seems like me and my stomach need to find out ,I enjoy mudbugs every spring here in Ok .We catch some but not like we get from LA.

[@Billyboy4209]

Himmel Nuss 831 when they harvest the rice and wheat fields later this year it’s going to be on! They will all be getting ready to dig in so a couple guys with a rake and bucket can fill the bed of a truck in about 2 hours Lol I eat the hell out of them from different areas I fish in the California delta. I will be setting out about 60 traps in the am in fact before I start actually fishing haha but the big jumbos from the fields about an hour north of Sacramento,Best in the world!😁 The big blue crawfish from the sierras are bomb too... ✌🏻

[@stevengonzalez27]

Bilyboy In some distant country on the other side of the world, people also get some small fish in the rice fields, while they wait for their harvest I supose. Of course it is hand fishing or hand trapping small critters. Good source of protein...

[@Billyboy4209]

Steven Gonzalez yep,that’s how it is in my wife’s home village. Lunch provided by the job... 😁

[@FernandoSilva-vu2gl]

Eu pensei que era aplicado a semente pré germinada.. muito bom saber disso.. legal; ótimo vídeo kk

[@jarheadlife]

Ag pilots are like modern day barnstormers!!! It would be cool to hear the planes engine and prop in future vids... no music

[@Ricefarmingtv]

Hi jarhead4life, in my most recent episode I've got a lot of the GoPro footage of the Ag Cat in action with no music so that you can hear the plane's engine and prop. There is also a portion at the end with music too. Here is the link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/roWlh6CpZ7psbqs -Matthew

[@jesusmejia827]

Exelent

[@sahitro1815]

Just like in my country Suriname👍