Lundberg's Organic Quinoa Thrives in Humboldt

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY TAMARA PALMER

One of my goals for the California Eating magazine and website is to bring you flavorful stories from throughout the Golden State, and I’m so grateful to Lundberg Family Farms for inviting me on my first-ever field trip to Humboldt County to see their organic quinoa right before the harvest.

Founded in 1937 and based in Richvale, Lundberg Family Farms (which is still family-owned) has the distinction of being the first commercial organic rice farm in the country. When the company wanted to grow quinoa, they found that the Sacramento Valley was much too hot to do it effectively, and after testing out conditions in areas throughout Northern California, they discovered that the coastal climate of the Emerald Triangle offers one of the most ideal growing conditions for quinoa in the world.

If you’ve ever read about exploitative quinoa practices around the world, you might be heartened to know that this California company is growing the grain in the right away — in partnership with well-compensated independent growers who don’t take advantage of workers. The organic crop is incredibly efficient and needs little to no water to grow. The farms we toured on their press exploration day had all been watered only once or twice during the growth cycle, and all had tall and happy plants.

We started off the day at the Carter House Inn in Eureka with an energizing breakfast of Lundberg’s tricolor quinoa, fruit, nuts, yogurt and honey.

From there, we had a glorious afternoon of quinoa spotting, including an exclusive look at their red and black quinoa varietals that will debut in 2020 after more than five years in development.

*Lundberg’s growers all co-planted sunflowers with their quinoa to serve as attractive borders and attract beneficial critters.*

*Lundberg VP of Agriculture Bryce Lundberg was a rather delightful tour guide.*