From the Sacramento Bee:

The California rice industry made a powerful statement recently when it shipped what's believed to be the first vessel of "all solar" farm exports from the state.

A shipment of 13,000 metric tons of California rice was loaded over a period of several days at the Port of Stockton, headed for Japan in late May and early June. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, said Chris Crutchfield, president and chief executive officer at American Commodity Co., since the state's growers send more than 20 vessels of rice to Japan every season.

But the cargo on the Global Arrow is the first in California, and perhaps in the world, to have 100 percent of its paddy rice processed with solar energy. The rice was dried and stored in solar-powered warehouses: Montna Farms Dryer in Dingville, and Myers & Charter Warehouse in Arbuckle.

The finished product was then milled, processed and packaged at two solar-powered rice mills, American Commodity Co. in Williams and California Family Foods in Arbuckle. Crutchfield said he's never heard of another such shipment.

For more, see: California ships 'all-solar' rice to Japan