Isbell Farms in Arkansas: History, What It Grows, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Isbell Farms is a family rice farm at England in Lonoke County, Arkansas, also known as Zero Grade Farms, and one of the best-known U.S. growers of Japanese sake rice. Chris Isbell was inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame in March 2023, and the family was the 2018 East Central District Farm Family of the Year with 3,000 acres of rice.
| Location | England, Lonoke County, Arkansas |
|---|---|
| Founded | Multi-generation family rice farm; the family says its grandfather introduced perfectly level fields in the 1950s |
| Sectors | Conventional rice; sake rice such as Yamada Nishiki; Japanese rice varieties |
| Scale | 3,000 acres of rice in 2018 per Arkansas Farm Bureau; sake rice is about 20 percent of acreage per Farm Show |
| Why it is notable | Chris Isbell was inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2023; 2018 district Farm Family of the Year |
| Ownership | Family owned; the next generation includes son Harrison |
| Official website | Isbell Farms official site |
History of Isbell Farms
USA Rice reports that Chris Isbell was born and raised on a rice farm in England, Arkansas, and that his father Leroy pioneered Zero Grade technology in Arkansas in the late 1960s. Farm Show says the family's grandfather introduced perfectly level fields in the 1950s, which inspired the name Zero Grade Farms. Either way, level fields and careful water use became part of the family's identity.
Chris began working with Japanese rice varieties in the late 1980s and found that the sushi rice region he had read about shared his farm's latitude. In the 1990s the farm was the only U.S. rice farm growing Koshihikari, and by 1996 the family was exporting rice to Japan. Around the early 2000s a California sake maker asked whether the farm grew Yamada Nishiki, and he began growing it, selling small batches to Takara in Los Angeles for about 15 years.
What Isbell Farms Grows and Raises
The farm grows about half a dozen Japanese rice varieties each year. Farm Show reports that sake rice covers about 20 percent of acreage and the rest is conventional rice. Each year Isbell grows small test plots, which he calls his play pretty patch, where he crosses varieties and tests taste, resilience, disease resistance and yield, and he works with researchers from the University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University.
When COVID-19 halted Japanese exports in 2020, the farm sent sample kits of three sake rice varieties to brewers around the world and began selling to breweries internationally. Arkansas's Origami Sake, which opened in Hot Springs in 2023, uses Arkansas-grown Japanese rice.
How Isbell Farms Makes Money
Sake rice for brewers
The farm supplies sake brewers worldwide, from large producers to craft brewers and hobbyists. Specialty rice sold as a branded input to brewers earns a different customer relationship from commodity rice sold at the mill.
Conventional rice
Most of the acreage remains conventional rice, which the farm sells through the normal Arkansas rice market and which funds the research on specialty varieties.
Rice byproducts
Farm Show reports that Harrison Isbell is developing a rice beer market using rice flour and broken rice, the byproducts of milling sake rice.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Isbell Farms
Test small before you scale. The family kept small plots and sold small batches for years before demand rose, and that patience gave them the varieties and the relationships when the market opened.
Find the buyer, not just the crop. Samples sent to brewers during a disruption created new customers. Growers considering specialty crops should compare the premium with added costs for milling, seed purity and marketing, and talk with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and USA Rice first.
A rice farm in Lonoke County that supplies sake brewers worldwide proves that the Delta can export both level fields and good taste. Readers of farm.FM who enjoy farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes will enjoy the idea of a farm hat tucked into a sample box shipped across the Pacific. We tip that hat to the Isbells and their play pretty patch.
farm.FM calls itself the nation's first satirical farm site, and between the headlines it spins Tractor Tunes, country music for farmers; a good place to start reading is this farm.FM columnist's archive.
How to Contact Isbell Farms
Website: https://www.isbellfarms.com/
The official website domain, isbellfarms.com, was found in a Farm Show article; no address, phone or email was verified from the site itself, so use the website for current sales and contact information, November 2026.
Isbell Farms Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Isbell Farms website - Official site of Isbell Farms
- USA Rice Daily - Hall of Fame honors Chris Isbell
- Farm Show - Arkansas family grows sake rice
- Arkansas Farm Bureau - Rice month focus on growing rice for sake
- University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture - History of Arkansas rice
Isbell Farms FAQ
What does Isbell Farms grow?
It grows conventional rice and Japanese varieties, including sake rice such as Yamada Nishiki.
Where is Isbell Farms?
At England in Lonoke County, Arkansas.
Why is it called Zero Grade Farms?
Farm Show says the name comes from the perfectly level fields the family's grandfather introduced in the 1950s.
Who buys the sake rice?
Breweries worldwide, including Takara in Los Angeles and Origami Sake in Hot Springs, according to USA Rice.
Isbell Farms shows how a Delta rice family turned careful testing and a Japanese variety into a worldwide specialty business. For more producers and programs, see the Arkansas state guide on bestfarms.top.