Minnesotan lakeside prices crashed, devastating the Native wild rice economy. Wild rice had leapt from local to national to global economics, and to a concern for consumers who had no idea who profited or which wild rice still bore the taste of our lakes and muds. Joe LaGarde, members of the White Earth Tribal Council, and other Indians worry about not just economics but biology. Man thinks he can improve on something that's been developing over thousands of years. Eventually, he might end up with nothing.
Every ricer knows that the wild rice is distinct between lakes.
We're concerned about possible crossbreeding of these hybrid cultivated varieties with our lake rice. There appears to be little state regulatory interest in ecological preservation of indigenous wild rice varieties. A pickup pulls up at the rice mill, and Eugene Davis and Tony Warren bring in around 300 pounds of rice off South Chippewa Lake. They are tired, wet from the recurring rain of morning, but happy. It is that peace which brings the ricers back.