With only about 22 inches (less than 600 mm) of rain a year, Bonaire seems a strange place to find a rice mill. But Antillean Rice Mills, which produces most of the rice eaten in the Netherlands Antilles, processes about 5,500 tons of rice a year. At one time, before trade restrictions were imposed by the European Union, ARM was processing 70,000 tons annually.

The rice all comes from US growers, is packaged to US standards by ARM. It is sold under the Blue Ribbon, Chopstick and Comet brands all of which fall under the US #1 category of the US milling standards.

Since rice is a natural product it must be cleaned of stones, sticks and branches before it can be graded and packaged. ARM cleans its rice at least seven times during the processing. The system is highly automated and the only rice touched by human hands are the samples mechanically drawn by the miller to verify the milling degree and quality.

Nothing is lost in the process with all rice bran and broken grains being used for animal feed in general.

If you are here during the rainy season and drive up Kaya Industria, look for the rice "paddy" that grows from the grains that blow off the trucks heading for ARM's factory.