Wild rice was a staple food for the Sioux and Chippewa Indians. Minnesota's lakes and rivers produce most of the millions of pounds of wild rice harvested annually in Canada and the United States.		To prevent damage and loss of the crop, the boat or canoe is poled from the rear while the front man in the team, using what looks like oversized drum sticks, knocks the ripe rice from its stalk into the boat.
It takes two to three pounds of green (unprocessed) wild rice to yield one pound of finished (processed) wild rice.	Approximately 4/5ths of the seed falls back into the water to become seed for future crops and food for wildlife.

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