Cultivating an Industry: A Look at Minnesota Wild Rice

During World War II, Minneapolis native James Godward served with the Army Air Corps in Burma and India. While stationed there, he observed the white rice paddies in those countries and their unique growing methods. It reminded him of the Native American tradition of harvesting wild rice on the lakes of northern Minnesota, which he had been exposed to throughout his life when at the Godward family cabin in Crosslake, Minnesota. And it got him thinking: could you cultivate wild rice and grow it in a similar manner?

“He got back from WWII and didn’t really know what he wanted to do, and he also had a very entrepreneurial spirit,” says James’ grandson, Nick Godward. “He had a lot of different businesses or ideas, and he and his brother [Gerald] kind of stuck on wild rice.”

The Start of a New Industry

The two brothers began researching how they could cultivate wild rice, spending several years in the “test phase” of their hopeful endeavor. They spent some time in Texas, learning white rice growing techniques. Back in Minnesota, their father bought some farmland near their Crosslake cabin, where they began implementing what they had learned. The duo experimented first with cultivating wild rice in the lake on their family land, then turned to fields, adding dikes around the perimeter—which they dug by hand—so they could be flooded to provide an optimal growth environment for the plant. “It was very unorthodox,” Nick says. “It was trial by fire.”

They launched Godward Wild Rice Farms in 1950, and today it’s run by James’ son, Tom, and his two sons, Brandon and Nick. “We are the very first wild rice farm in the world,” Nick says. Today, the three of them farm on the original land in Crosslake, as well as in Aitkin and Palisade, Minnesota.

It was another pair of brothers from northern Minnesota, Harold and Franklin Kosbau, who were the first wild rice farmers to successfully raise a non-shattering cultivar of wild rice, in the early 1970s. (Shattering is when kernels fall off the plant prematurely due to wind, rain and other natural elements.) With non-shattering cultivars, fewer kernels are lost during the growing season and more can make it to maturity and be harvested.

The Kosbau brothers, like the Godwards, did a lot for the growth of this industry in Minnesota. They were the first wild rice farmers to develop and use a full-track combine for harvesting, and they also introduced airboats as a harvesting and thinning tool. Their cultivation efforts resulted in two varieties named after the family—a variety called K2, released in 1972, and “Franklin,” released in the late 1990s. They also helped start the Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council and petitioned the government to name wild rice as the state grain.

Harold’s grandson, Nathan Kosbau, carries on the family legacy today, farming 600 acres of wild rice and soybeans just north of Aitkin, Minnesota—nearby the Godward’s farm.

The Godwards and Nathan are two of only 30 cultivated wild rice farms across the state; California is the only other state in the nation that grows cultivated wild rice. The Red Lake Nation—the only native-run cultivated wild rice farm in Minnesota—is the state’s fifth largest producer. Globally, Minnesota is the top producer of cultivated wild rice, with over 10 million pounds of wild rice produced in 2023.

“The Minnesota cultivated wild rice industry contributes over $58 million and 640 jobs to the state’s economy,” says Beth Nelson, president of the Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council. “Cultivated wild rice farming is a family affair—83% of our farms have multiple generations involved in ownership or operation of the farm and are now transitioning to the next generation.”

There is currently no cultivated wild rice seed industry. In Minnesota, farmers work closely with a University of Minnesota research program that helps develop new varieties. The Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council contracts farmers to grow these new varieties, and all seeds are sold and distributed by the Council. There are no GMOs in wild rice; rather, wild rice cultivars are developed through natural seed breeding and development.

An Ancient Grain

According to the oral tradition of the Anishinaabe, or Ojibwe, people, a prophecy from their creator urged them to move west, to the land where “the food grows on water.” Over the next 1,000-plus years, the Ojibwe people moved in small groups from the Atlantic Coast of northeastern North America toward the Great Lakes region. As various bands of Ojibwe people settled in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, they encountered Manoomin (which translates to “the good berry”). This is what is now generally referred to as wild rice. This became a chief food source for the Ojibwe people scattered across the region and continues to carry a deep spiritual and cultural significance today. For the Dakota people, who have lived along the region’s shores and rivers for countless generations, harvesting wild rice was part of their annual rhythm, also serving as an essential food source.

Found throughout the Great Lakes region in the United States and Canada, wild rice is the only cereal grain native to North America. And it’s a nutritional powerhouse: this whole grain is naturally gluten-free and is a good source of complex carbohydrates, B vitamins, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and zinc. Containing more protein and dietary fiber than both white and brown rice, it can help you stay full longer. It also contains all nine essential amino acids.

But it might be surprising to discover that wild rice isn’t truly rice. Rather, it’s an aquatic grass that’s native to the cool lakes and rivers in Northern Minnesota and the surrounding Great Lakes region, which produce kernels that are similar in size and shape to rice kernels. These lakes and rivers also provide a rich ecological habitat for birds, waterfowl and a wide range of other species.

The Legacy of the Land

The Godwards grow cultivated wild rice and rotate their fields with soybeans; they also harvest wild rice from the private lakes on their property. Some of that is harvested via airboat, which is retrofitted with a hopper at the front to catch and collect ripe kernels. Other lake rice is hand-harvested the traditional way—in a canoe, propelled by a forked push pole, using knocking sticks to harvest the rice. While airboat harvesting is permitted on private property, according to Minnesota statutes, only hand-propelled boats, skiffs and canoes are permitted when harvesting wild rice on public land; harvesters other than tribal band members must also obtain a permit from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Most years, the Godwards grow organic wild rice on a portion of their property. “We are the only certified organic cultivated wild rice farm in Minnesota,” Nick says. “So, we do all four types [cultivated, organic, airboat and hand-harvested lake rice] just depending on what people want.”

It’s a plant Tom is proud to grow, as it helps put healthy food on the table not just for Minnesotans but globally. “Our family started this crazy industry and I’m very proud of that,” he says. “And I'm honored that my two boys are working with me. It means a lot to me that they have a passion for what they do.”

Unlike most wild rice farms in Minnesota, Nathan Kosbau didn’t inherit land or directly learn growing techniques from the predecessors in his family, Harold and Franklin. Harold's son, (Nathan’s father) died in 1987, when Nathan was only two. Franklin’s son died that same year, with Franklin himself dying shortly thereafter. With no children to pass the farm onto, Harold retired in the late 90s and sold his farmland to a neighbor. But Nathan always planned on getting back into the family business. “They were the early pioneers in the business, and I didn't want the family story to stop there. I just couldn't let it go,” he says.

Nathan received a bachelor’s degree in agronomy from the University of Minnesota before working for CHS for 10 years. In 2017, he purchased land from a retiring farmer in Aitkin and has farmed full-time since 2019. But it’s certainly been challenging to start the endeavor from scratch, despite his family’s legacy.

“It’s that stubborn Midwesterner in me that says, with the last dollar I have, I will figure out how to grow wild rice,” Nathan says, noting that his perseverance and faith have helped carry him through the tough times. That, and he simply loves the crop for all of its difficult and delicious complexity.

“It's the inquisitiveness, it’s the perplexity of the crop, it's the level of difficulty—it's everything wrapped up together,” Nathan says. “It’s that you look at it and you see that beautiful crop out there, and you're saying, ‘Wow, how is this possible?’ And you thank the big man upstairs for all your blessings and giving you this beautiful crop. The purple and yellow blossoms—it’s just gorgeous in bloom. And then you kind of get that taste of it, and it’s amazing. Then I guess it gets into your blood.”

Brewer’s Choice

Every fall, Nathan Kosbau, a wild rice farmer in Aitkin, Minnesota, delivers around 200 pounds of wild rice to local restaurant Block North Brew Pub, where head brewer Rich Courtemanche brews up two batches of their seasonal Wild Frontier wild rice pilsner.

This crisp and approachable beer, available every fall through winter, features a light hop presence with a distinctive wild rice after flavor that Courtemanche describes as earthy—like a good mushroom—but subtle enough that it doesn’t detract from the overall drinkability of the beer.

“It’s a fantastic beer to pair with anything on the menu,” Courtemanche says, noting that Block North features an eclectic, from-scratch menu that leans heavily on local, seasonal ingredients.

From Seed to Soup

The journey that wild rice takes to make it from a seed to many Minnesotans’ favorite soup is much more winding and involved than many grains. 

Growing & Harvesting

• Cultivated wild rice fields must be flooded to mimic lake conditions, then slowly drained as the crop grows. 
• Once seeds are planted in early spring, fields are flooded to depths ranging from 6 inches to 2 feet. A dike around the field helps contain the water, with watergate structures offering surface irrigation and helping manage water levels.
• By mid-to-late June, as the wild rice grows and the shoots surface above the water, the fields are slowly drained—generally about ½ to 1 inch per week.
• By early August, fields are generally fully drained, and when the majority of kernels reach maturity, harvest generally begins—usually lasting about two weeks, beginning in late August. 
• Since kernels have a high moisture content and do not ripen evenly, only about 50% of the grain that’s harvested will become finished wild rice.
• Combines used to harvest cultivated wild rice are retrofitted with full tracks, three-quarter tracks, half tracks or rice and cane tires (depending on the field’s soil), along with customized thrashing rotors and headers.

Processing

Traditional processing—referred to as “parching”—was developed by Native American tribes, and it’s just in the past half a century that commercial processing techniques have been developed. This automated method is referred to as “steaming/parboiling.” These processing steps include:

• Curing: Kernels continue ripening
• Screening: Kernels are pre-cleaned
• Steaming
• Drying: As kernels are dried, they achieve their finished color and flavor
• Hulling: Hulls are removed and separated from the rice
• Scarification (optional step): Removal of a portion of the bran layer to reduce cook time
• Grading: Finished grains of rice are separated and sorted according to size and color
• Cleaning: Eliminates all foreign matter, including hulls