Dedicated to Innovation

CalPlant’s story begins with two men, Jerry Uhland and Jim Boyd, each having deep roots in the rice industry and a vision for solving a problem. Fast forward 25 years, and their vision is revolutionizing the MDF industry.

The Journey to Eureka™

1970-1990

Jim Boyd, a lifelong rice farmer, businessman and entrepreneur in Glenn County, California, searches for a way to make a major, permanent economic contribution in the farming community where his family has deep roots.

1996

Working with the English company Compac, Boyd experiments with recycling post-harvest rice straw to make particle board, which has been successfully manufactured with wheat straw. Efforts are unsuccessful. Boyd redirects his focus and aligns his efforts with those of Jerry Uhland, another Glenn County rice farmer, agronomist and scientist, who suggests using rice straw to make MDF board instead. Together, they form the company CalAg LLC.

1970-1990
1991
1996
1997-1998
2003
2007-2008
2009
2012-2014
2016
2017
2020
2021

CalPlant’s Economic Impact at a Glance

140full-time positions at the plant

500part-time jobs created during straw harvest

800ancillary jobs created in the region

$15-$20 millionin estimated annual savings for rice growers supplying straw

300+construction jobs created while building the plant

25-30truckloads of MDF to be shipped per day

30%of California’s current MDF demand could be supplied by annual plant output

280Ktons of post-harvest rice straw waste recovered annually

Supporting Our Community

CalPlant’s 276-acre manufacturing site is strategically located in Willows, California, in the heart of the Sacramento Valley. This area produces 20% of the rice in the United States, amounting to 1.5 million tons of rice straw every year. Using this as raw material CalPlant sources its rice straw from within an average 25-mile radius, ensuring that this revolutionary product benefits its immediate community.

Invested in a Better Future

Striving to go beyond sustainability, CalPlant’s Eureka^™ MDF represents a drive to steward resources well and contribute to a better future for the Willows community, our country, and the planet. Because rice straw is annually renewable, CalPlant will transform an environmental burden into something of value, year after year. CalPlant’s reclamation of approximately 20% of the Sacramento Valley’s rice straw waste will significantly reduce the levels of water that would have been diverted from regional waterways to flood rice fields after harvest. Fewer flooded fields also means lower methane emissions due to the straw’s decomposition over the winter.

Environmental Certifications, Standards & Labels

We believe our rice straw-based MDF will be the most sustainable MDF on the planet. But we don’t expect you to take our word for it. Commencing with startup and continuing over several months, CalPlant will be pursuing these certifications, material ingredient labels and third-party verification of our environmentally advanced MDF:

Pre-consumer recycled content certification
Composite Panel Association’s EcoCertified Composite Sustainability Standard (ECC)
Health Product Declaration (HPD) through the Health Product Declaration Collaborative
Declare Label through the International Living Future Institute
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)
Environmentally Preferable Product label (EPP)