Secretary of Agriculture announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has reached agreement with Chinese officials on final details of a protocol to allow the United States to begin exporting rice to China for the first time ever. China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of rice. Since 2013, it has also been the largest importer, with imports reaching nearly 5 million tons last year. After Arkansas, California is the second-largest rice-growing state in the U.S. The majority of the rice grown in California comes from the Sacramento Valley north of Lodi.