Wild rice harvesting in the lakes and rivers of northern Saskatchewan is one of the fastest growing agricultural industries in this province. In the 1990 crop year, about 350 producers harvested over one million kilograms of wild rice for domestic sale in Canada, and international sales to the United States and Europe. Wild rice production is becoming a vital part of northern agriculture. Wild rice is not a native Saskatchewan crop. It was first introduced to the north in the 1920's, as a food for muskrats. Wild rice is not actually rice, but is a type of grass that grows annually from seed. It is sown in about a metre of water in the fall either by hand or with mechanized seeders. Wild rice is also self-seeding. Ripe, unharvested seed often falls into the water and is transported naturally by slow currents until it is deposited into natural, stream bottom seed beds. The seed can lie dormant up to four winters before it germinates in the spring. Until the 1980s wild rice was harvested by hand. Today, mechanical beaters consisting of an airboat with beater bars and a catch tray are used. New methods of harvesting have helped increase wild rice production.