Climate-Proof Rice

Nearly half of the world’s seven billion people rely on rice as a dietary staple, and approximately 90 percent of all the rice grown is consumed in Asia. With climate instability increasing, it’s become more important than ever to come up with ways to improve yields and sustain future generations.

Genetic engineering has played an important role in coping with individual environmental stresses such as drought, salt and lack of adequate fertilization. However, a new strain of “super rice” has now been developed that can handle all three so that farmers can grow the same variety year after year, regardless of the growing conditions. A type of cress contributed the gene that gives the rice its salt tolerance; drought tolerance came from a soil bacterium; and a gene from barley enables the plant to utilize nitrogen more efficiently, so it requires less fertilizer.

It has been estimated that global crop losses from drought alone cost $13 billion per year, and salt contamination adds another $1 billion.