Albert and Frances Lundberg, the grandparents of the current Lundbergs, traveled west to Richvale, California, in 1937 from Nebraska, seeking their fortunes out west after the Great Depression. In Nebraska they had farmed wheat and corn, but they found that their of hard clay in California were better suited for rice. Since the beginning they have been early pioneers in ecologically sound agriculture. While Albert Lundberg's neighbors were burning leftover rice stalks, for example, Albert devised a way to plow those stalks back into the field as fertilizer. Because of this early focus, the Lundbergs were the first American farmers to market a brand of organic rice products. In order to accomplish this, Albert's sons Wendell, Eldon, Harlan, and Homer had to build their own mill and establish a company which they called Wehah Farm, after their initials.
