Meet The Team
Chris Crutchfield
President and CEO
Shortly after graduating from the University of Missouri in 1996, Chris moved back to California and joined Turgay Yetis and Paul Crutchfield in the formation of a rough rice pool for direct marketing to Turkey. Chris was responsible for the day to day management of the pool. This partnership developed into the formation of American Commodity Company (ACC) in 2000, and Chris assumed all direct management responsibilities for ACC.
Chris is currently very active in multiple US rice industry associations at both the state and national levels. Chris serves as the Chairman of the USA Rice Federation's Asia/Turkey Promotion Committee in addition to several other positions.
Prior to establishing himself in the California rice industry, Chris worked in the press offices of Governor Pete Wilson as his Assistant Press Secretary. He also briefly taught secondary education in the California public school system.
Alfred Montna
Chairman of the Board
Al owns and operates Montna Farms and Montna Farms Dryer located in Dingville, CA, where he actively farms rice, walnuts and prunes. His rice industry experience includes service as Chairman of the Board of Farmers' Rice Cooperative, Sacramento, CA, from 1984-1998, where he was a board member from 1982-2000. Al was Chairman of the U.S. Rice Producers' Group from 1991- 1994. He served on the Board of Directors of the California Rice Industry Association from 1991-1996. He was the Chairman of the USA Rice Federation's Conservation Committee from its inception until 2006. At that time he stepped down when he was elected to a two year term as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Federation.
Al's many recognitions for his commitment to U.S. agriculture include the California Rice Meritorious Service Grower Achievement Award, The Honored Alumni of the Year for the College of Agriculture for Cal Poly University (graduated 1967), and most recently the California Agriculturalist of the Year for 2004.
In addition to his commitment to CA and US agriculture, Al is active in commercial and residential real estate development.
Paul Crutchfield
Board of Directors
Paul was Vice President-Marketing at Farmers’ Rice Cooperative, Sacramento, CA, from 1983-1996. Prior to that, he was Vice President, International Marketing at the Rice Growers’ Association, Sacramento from 1982-1983. Before moving to CA, Paul was Vice President, American Rice Inc. in Houston, TX from 1975-1983. In 1996, Paul resigned from Farmers’ Rice Cooperative with thoughts of early retirement. However, since that time, he has been active in various investments, including the formation of California Commodity Traders with Chris Crutchfield, which brought Paul back into the rice business in 1998. Throughout his tenure in the rice business, Paul has served on many industry committees, at both the state and U.S. levels.
