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CalPlant I is the world’s first commercial-scale producer of rice straw-based medium density fiberboard (MDF), annually supplying approximately 140 million square feet of no-added-formaldehyde MDF to the building products industry.
CalPlant I and its predecessor company CalAg LLC have spent many years researching, developing and patenting a process to make high quality MDF using annually renewable rice straw as the feedstock, the disposal of which has posed environmental issues in California for over a century. Rice straw is an agricultural waste product of the annual harvest, and all furnish for the plant will be procured from Sacramento Valley rice growers within a 15- to 25-mile radius of the plant site in Willows, California.
Currently, the most common practice of straw disposal is to initiate a decomposition process by flooding the fields after harvest. This practice uses a large volume of incremental amounts of precious water. By processing rice straw into MDF, CalPlant I will significantly reduce the levels of water that would have been diverted from regional waterways to flood rice fields after harvest.
The Grow Manufacturing Initiative is a proud member of California’s Manufacturing Network. The Network was formed and is managed by CMTC, to efficiently serve manufacturers statewide. As a member of California’s Manufacturing Network, the Grow Manufacturing Initiative delivers technical assistance services and resources which address the regional challenges driven by the diverse manufacturing community. California’s Manufacturing Network is a collaboration of more than 20 organizations throughout the state, serving more than 2,000 companies annually, and adding significant economic impact for manufacturers and the public good of the State of California.