Growing Arborio Rice

We eat a lot of rice in our family and I'd love to grow it on our USDA zone 6b farm. My favorite variety is arborio and I think it should grow here, but I'm not having any luck finding US seed sources. I know there are growers in my state and I thought I might be able to visit a farm and beg enough seed to grow a small patch, but I'm not confident that will work. Any suggestions from my permies pals? Anyone know where to find anything smaller than wholesale rice seed for the home grower?

Katie Nicholson wrote: Anyone know where to find anything smaller than wholesale rice seed for the home grower?

I asked Mr. Google who gave me several sources for Arborio Rice seeds.  About 100 seeds for $4.00 from the Experimental farm network. org

One source said to start the seeds in muddy compost.

I hope you will let us know how this works out for you.

This company claims all their seeds are sourced in michigan and they transplant out the rice in may, so southern states should still have plenty of time to grow out a crop this year.
https://greatlakesstapleseeds.com/products/vialone-risotto-upland-rice

This farm name I actually recognize from buying some of their more specialized rice blends to use in holiday recipes.  

https://existgreen.com/arborio-rice/

I already started ordering seeds for the fall garden. Several varieties of bean were on back order while they grew out a new seed crop.  I wonder if rice sold out early in the year also, and seed companies are just getting the newest seed crop in.  Alternatively, maybe supply issues in other areas caused less large farms to plant rice and the seed companies just realized there was a niche market interested in their excess.

Just of interest there is this great article about different rice varieties. It might expand the options you want to try.  One thing it mentions is converted rice is more nutritious.  The term refers to rice that is partially cooked before dehulling.  I always thought preprocessed rices like Uncle Ben's lost nutrition in the process.  We're not big rice eaters in part because it is so much faster to cook a few vegetables al dented, but this information might make us eat a little more.