For centuries Native Americans harvested it in canoes, bending the long stalks over the canoe and shaking off the grain. By 1985 a shatter resistant cultivar had been developed and the amount of wild rice in cultivation now greatly exceeds that harvested from plants growing naturally. California and Minnesota are the two major sources of cultivated wild rice. The new cultivar produces shorter grains that swell less when cooked than do the natural strain, so wild rice from the Connecticut River will not look exactly like what you might purchase in the store. Wild rice has been found on numerous sites on the Connecticut River, on the borders of streams in shallow water protected from strong river currents.
Some plants seems to have been infected by a foliar fungal disease, brown spot.
Ergot, Claviceps zizaniae , is also known to occur on natural grain wild rice. Steeves, T. A. 1952. Indian food and a modern delicacy. Vennum, T. 1988. Wild Rice and the Ojibway people .