Carol & Michael Hofmann
Rice Farmers
The Valley Home Rice Company
The Valley Home Rice Company is obsessed with fresh clean rice. That is why we hull in small amounts and refrigerate directly after hulling. No more middle of the store 2 year old (or more) rancid brown rice. Our fresh taste will delight you!! It will be as if you have never tasted what brown rice should taste like.
We farm in the beautiful Valley Home, CA area and have since the early 1900’s. Michael Hofmann (our co-founder) is a fourth-generation family farmer who has been growing rice with proprietary sustainable farming practices. Our farmland has pristine soil and we irrigate directly off the Sierras for pure fresh water. This has created the best place to farm rice and mitigate arsenic. We work closely with Stanford Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital on this mission.
We recently “hacked” into and are sold in the produce department at the fantastic Vintage Grocers in Southern California. We are the first rice product to do this and it shows how determined we are to keep our product fresh even at retail! This is the first time brown rice has been labeled truly perishable (6 months from hull date as brown rice goes rancid after 6 months) and sold in ambient refrigeration alongside herbs and vegetables as opposed to middle of the store.
We are also sold in the refrigerator at the trendsetting Kitchentown in Burlingame CA, a darling of the artisan food industry. We are proudly served at Stanford Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital beginning in November ‘18 and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles will follow shortly which will be our ultimate accomplishment and a highly valuable testimonial.
Our corporate ethos is to donate to children in need with an emphasis on Children’s Hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses.
Farm Management
The Valley Home Rice Company is led by Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Michael Hofmann, a fourth-generation rice farmer with more than 50 years of rice farming experience. Mike has an unparalleled resume in the history of California agricultural and USA rice farming, including testifying before the United States Congress on behalf of farm bills and traveling worldwide for various USAID projects, a division of the Department of State of the United States.
Carol Matthews works hand-in-hand with Michael as Co-Founder. In 2013, Ms. Matthews completely changed career paths from the fashion and entertainment business in Los Angeles to the rice farming industry in Valley Home! After battling auto immune disease for years, Carol decided to change her diet to eating all “clean" foods, which she believes has healing powers. As rice is a prebiotic, she has personally benefited by eating the Valley Home Rice Company’s brown rice. Carol feels stronger and healthier than ever!
She has published a children’s book, “Fabulina and Miss Sugar Poodle’s First Visit to the Farm” with proceeds going to the Acres Verdes Foundation which will build and support teaching farms.
