Thailand’s rice industry has historically been one of the more successful ones among other rice-producing and exporting countries. It has a tradition of producing high-quality, long-grain, white rice, and selling it at a premium price in the world market. Before World War II, rice was mainly produced by peasant farmers in central Thailand along the Chao Phraya River delta. Most of these peasant rice farmers owned their land and were well protected by the government from aristocratic landlords and urban merchants who wanted to control the rice industry. As a result, the country became relatively self-sufficient in their rice supplies. Overall rice production in the past was modest, enough for the peasants to survive on.