The experiment station introduced two new varieties of rice. one from Japan and one from Honduras. that were extremely helpful to the commercialization of rice farming in Arkansas. At the same time. rice was emerging as a significant crop in California. By 1856. the new State of California included in its population some 40.000 Chinese. whose staple food was rice. California rice production began to meet the demand of these immigrants for rice. The first commercial crop of shortgrain rice. which is the variety favored throughout Asia. was grown in California in 1912. From these beginnings. rice has over the years returned to the prominence in American agriculture that it had in colonial times.
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immigrants