Let's start with some changes in what we eat for lunch and dinner.

Americans consume three times the amount of rice they did a generation back on average about 31 pounds per person each year.

Rice is a key ingredient in meals at both Asian and Hispanic restaurants, but rice also plays a major role in cereals, food additives, even beer.

California is a major producer of rice, Our Jason Shoultz visits one farmer looking to deliver his harvest to new markets.

♪♪ >> Northern California Chef Billy Ngo knows sushi.

>> The rice is the most important part of sushi.

>> And his Midtown Sacramento Kru restaurant sits in the heart of California rice country.

We have all the recipes written down and everything, we haven't gotten here and started making anything yet.

>> So 9 years ago farmer Michael Bosworth sat down at Billy's sushi counter with a sales pitch.

Why not buy his organic rice directly instead of through a supplier?

>> Back then I was like, I think, first year open, and I was like well how much is it?

And then, and then I was like why would I need to pay that much more for that rice, compared to conventional rice?

♪♪ >> As a concept, farm to fork is a slam-dunk.

As a practical matter it often means farmers like Michael Bosworth making the case that paying more for local or organic is worth it for customers.

Bosworth's family had been farming rice conventionally for decades when he decided to go into direct sales in 2005.

>> But there were a lot of lot of phone calls, lot of driving around; lot of samples and it wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination.

>> It can be a tough sell, especially when restaurant margins are thin.

Beyond doing their own marketing, farmers like Michael end up tackling logistics.

Going around established distribution and sales systems.

For Michael that means filling up every nook and cranny of his delivery pickup truck.

A truck with how many miles?

>> 267,000 this morning.

>> But that hard work has paid off.

10 years in, Michael now sells his rice to restaurants and food service customers.

Even direct retail across Northern California.

>> Our idea was to establish that relationship and help to differentiate our farm from others and provide a direct link of communication with our customers, hear their feedback, understand if they are interested in other varieties or what we can do to make their side of the business work well.

>> And his farm to fork venture is entering a new phase.

Success selling his own rice has led to other smaller farmers and food-makers coming to him for distribution.

>> So we thought, hey let's all put everything in one truck and get it down there for one guy to order and he knows, hey, on Thursday I'm going to get my order of all these locally grown products, I don't have to talk to 10 different farmers and worry about when they are all going to show up.

>> Of course, Billy Ngo did end up buying Bosworth's rice.

Their relationship is such that Billy actually now works with Michael on what varieties of rice he would like for his restaurant.

Thank you!

>> That was really cool to have that relationship with a farmer, having something grown for us, and he'll just ask us if there's anything, other types of rice we'd like to grow.

>> He suggested that you know, maybe he wanted to try a high quality Japanese style short grain, so we started growing that for him, and his restaurant.

>> So what did the trick?

How did he convince Billy Ngo to spend a little more for his organic rice?

Well, it wasn't a slick marketing campaign.

A trip to the farm in the pickup truck.

>> Finally I invited him up to the ranch during harvest and he came up and drove the harvester with me, and you know, walked through the fields.

>> Speaking of that old farm truck, the farm to fork sales for Bosworth are going well enough that it's time for an upgrade.

>> We're getting a new truck, huh?

>> Yeah we're finally upgrading to a new truck, the old F150 just can't keep up anymore.

We've been here since 1946, so it's pretty special to continue that tradition and continue to nurture the land that has provided for our family for decades.

>> Rice is the primary food source for a significant portion of the world's population.

It's grown in more than a hundred countries on every continent except Antarctica.

Use plenty of water when you're preparing rice.

That's because cooked rice will swell to more than three times its original size.