As a kid, Mike Martin played on tractors in a shed while his father was working in the rice fields. Today, that same shed is a whir with the sounds of rice milling equipment. Today, Martin still spends some time on a much larger tractor, but most of his efforts focus on procuring, milling and marketing rice for the family-owned Martin Rice Company.

The family farms more than 4,000 acres in southeast Missouri. They decided to add value to the crop the family has grown on the farm for more than 25 years. So in 1999, the Martins changed that small shed into a rice processing facility.

Precise process

DOMESTIC PRODUCT: Martin Rice Company mills, packages and sells Jasmine rice to markets in the U.S. The company found a niche in the Cleveland, Ohio, area.

Rice if harvested at 18% moisture. Most rice in Missouri is slow dried in a grain bin. "The bins are set up with proper heaters and aeration to get the rice down to 13% moisture before they deliver to us," Martin says. "Any above 14% and we can't get the hull off."

The milling process consists of rubbing the rice against itself to remove the hull and create a white kernel. The Martins designed and built their own equipment to be as gentle as possible. The act of rubbing rice creates friction and friction creates heat. That heat can result in broken rice, which is less valuable.

TELLING THE STORY: Mike Martin holds recently milled rice as he tells of how the family started milling rice 14 years ago, in the same shed where he road toy tractors. Today the family mills 1.6 million bushels per year.

However, there is no waste at the facility. "We don't throw anything away here," he explains. Anything on the floor, from spills, or on the cleaner including sticks and dead frogs is mixed with rice barn. A local hog farmer buys it for feed. Hill's Science Diet, a dog food produced in Bowling Green, Ky., purchases the broken rice pieces that come off the back of the mill. Cargill Pork purchases much of the rice bran, as it is a full fat rice bran that still contains the oil. Martin trades the hulls with area Tyson chicken houses for manure to put back on his crops. "Hulls are the preferred bedding for the chickens because they are hypoallergenic and do not affect growth."

Maintaining the market

Martin works with buyers from across the world when selling the rice kernel. The mill processes long grain, medium grain and aromatic long grain rice, commonly known as Jasmine rice. Jasmine rice has a sticky texture and aroma, which smells like buttered popcorn. It is a common rice variety for Japanese and Chinese food markets.

Martin Rice Company sells rice into wholesale markets in Japan and China. They also sell domestically from the east coast to the west coast. "If you are eating in Cleveland, Ohio, there is more than a 75% chance that you are eating rice from this mill right here," Martin says. "We have a concentrated presence in that area. It just so happens to be our niche spot."

The first year the Martin Rice Company opened the family was only milling the 30,000 bushels of rice that the family raised. While the Martin's still raise rice, they rely on area farmers to fill their market orders. By the end of 2014, 1.6 million bushels will run through the small mill in Stoddard County.

"It has been a learning experience from the start," Martin says. "Along the way we taught ourselves how to mill rice, create a market and sell rice. I went from being a farmer to being a rice miller."