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Methods of growing differ greatly in different localities, but in most Asian countries the traditional hand methods of cultivating and harvesting rice are still practiced. The fields are prepared by plowing (typically with simple plows drawn by water buffalo), fertilizing (usually with dung or sewage), and smoothing (by dragging a log over them). The seedlings are started in seedling beds and, after 30 to 50 days, are transplanted by hand to the fields, which have been flooded by rain or river water. During the growing season, irrigation is maintained by dike-controlled canals or by hand watering. The fields are allowed to drain before cutting.
Rice when it is still covered by the brown hull is known as paddy; rice fields are also called paddy fields or rice paddies. Before marketing, the rice is threshed to loosen the hulls : mainly by flailing, treading, or working in a mortar : and winnowed free of chaff by tossing it in the air above a sheet or mat.
In the United States and in many parts of Europe, rice cultivation has undergone the same mechanization at all stages of cultivation and harvesting as have other grain crops. Rice was introduced to the American colonies in the mid-17th cent. and soon became an important crop. Although U.S. production is less than that of wheat and corn, rice is grown in excess of domestic consumption and has been exported, mainly to Europe and South America. Chief growing areas of the United States are in Arkansas, Texas, California, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The world's leading rice-producing countries are China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Thailand. Total annual world production is more than half a billion metric tons.
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