5000 words later and the question isn't really answered directly as in "Who owns it today?," so to save you the trouble: Mars, the same people who own M&M's and tons of other foodstuffs.
The article is a meandering wander through some history of rice in North Carolina.
There should be a word for the feeling you get as you realize that the article you are reading is nowhere near as good as the design of the page you are reading it on. Entwurfschreibenschmertz?
The article was quite honestly refreshing, it gave me a deep understanding for the importance that history and culture are put into the creation of dishes and food in the South and what that represents to the individual and those living in the environment. The design was indeed quite nice as well.
This is not well-written nor is it particularly relevant to anything “hacker-ish.” Has the bar for notability been lowered to content simply having decent graphic design?
> particularly relevant to anything “hacker-ish.”
Civilization, as in things beyond mere survival or raw efficiency.