Our Story
In an effort to keep the community well-fed while being environmentally conscious, Lopes Family Farms (LFF) was started by a father and son duo. Committed to exploring new rice farming methods in order to adapt to a changing climate, LFF adopted an integrated method in 2022 known as "Rice and Duck Farming." This method uses two-thirds less of the water normally required to grow organic rice. This method is a modern multi-species integrated farming system with ancient roots, having been practiced in China for hundreds of years and perfected in Japan in the 1980s by Takao Furuno.
Ducklings are raised in the rice fields to do the weeding, fertilizing, and pest control, instead of farmers relying on pesticides and the usual deep water method for weed control. There are only upsides to this method, as labor and pesticide costs for controlling weeds and insects are minimized and the soil health is improved. By raising ducks in the field along with the rice, LFF is able to do its part in helping the environment while producing two sources of food in the same field with less resources used.
