From the time he was a little boy, John Warner wanted to be a cropduster pilot. His dream became a reality and he's been flying for thirty years. But during warm spring days in the Sacramento Valley, cropdusting takes a back seat to rice seeding. It used to be that rice was sown by hand or machine. But today, the preferred method of getting rice into the ground is from the air. During April and May, rice seeds are loaded into holds in airplanes, and once airborne, are dropped onto flooded fields. It's a straightforward and fast method, but it can be risky. Telephone poles and high-tension wires make flying around valley rice fields a dangerous obstacle course. Plus, says John, "Engine failure is always on your mind. I rolled a Stearman airplane back in '71 into a ball on take-off. Lost an engine and cartwheeled until there was nothing left." Still, John lived to tell about it. On a good day during rice-planting season, he can make dozens of drops. The day of our visit he was planting a variety called "Akita Komachi," which is grown for export to Japan. Chris McKenzie's a local rice farmer who raises both Akita Komachi and has branched off into wild rice, which really isn't rice at all, but a type of wild grass. It's pricier than most rice and with a rich, nutty flavor is growing in popularity. Chris says that he went into wild rice because it's a specialty crop where he can make more money on fewer acres. Once the seeds are dropped, they sink to the bottom of the flooded fields. The water in these fields is just a few inches deep, but that's deep enough to sustain a growing rice crop. It takes four to five days for the seeds to sprout. In rice-growing lingo, the first root from the seed is called a "spike." The spike hooks into the ground and the plant grows up from there. With lots of help from Mother Nature and a fair share from man, the rice harvest takes place in the fall, the end of a six-month growing cycle that yields one of California's most valuable crops. For more information about California rice, contact the California Rice Promotion Board at P.O. Box 255829, Sacramento, CA 95865. Or call (916) 929-2264. You'll be sent a variety of materials including California rice recipes. If you have questions or comments about this story, please E-mail Senior Producer Corita Gravitt at corita.gravitt@mailexcite.com.