Rice Family Farms

Rice Family Farms began over 22 years ago as Gilbert and Gladys Garden Vegetables, a 1-acre venture by Gilbert Rice, selling at the old Boise Farmers Market and to the Boise Consumer Coop. In 1993, Lee Rice joined the venture with the purchase of land on Meridian Road, expanding the farm to its current 50-acre size.

The farm employs no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers, relying instead on cover crop, hay, and pasture rotation, continuous cultivar rotation within production fields, and intensive hand and mechanical weed control. Natural and NOP-approved nutrient and pest control systems are used, and the farm is certified organic by the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.

Rice Family Farms mentors and partners with Ian and Kelsey Kilgore for farmers market and CSA sales. The farm's organic certification involves extensive record-keeping, journal and input documentation, and associated costs and responsibilities.