A new study published in Communications Earth & Environment warns that climate change is pushing rice-growing regions into temperatures beyond what the crop has experienced in its 9,000-year cultivation history — warming roughly 5,000 times faster than rice can evolve.
Rice farming has historically stayed within a mean annual temperature below 82.4°F (28°C) and warm-season peaks below 91.4°F (33°C). While humans have successfully bred cold-tolerant strains over the centuries, the upper heat threshold has never changed. Above 104°F (40°C), rice photosynthesis shuts down, and excess heat disrupts pollen and grain development.
Researchers acknowledge that adaptation is possible — shifting cultivation to cooler regions or breeding more heat-resistant varieties — but warn these solutions don't protect the communities in South Asia that depend on local rice production for food and income. With over half the world's population relying on rice as a staple, and 90% of cultivation concentrated in Asia, the disruption could have serious food security consequences.
While I strongly support this as a solution to this problem, I am rather concerned that people will use this as an excuse to not address the climate issues creating this problem in the first place.
The pharmacorps have been promising saline- and drought-resistant traits since ‘00. They have yet to bring one to market.
Some traits are just much harder. They haven’t even managed ablue rose, despite throwing vast resources at it for decades. Don’t assume we can fix all our problems with tech.
In 2005 the Saltol QTL genes were discovered that gives enhanced salt tolerance to rice. Since then numerous strains have been developed and put into widespread use. Notable examples:
The BRRI strains, in use throughout Bangladesh
India’s CSR Series
"Sea Rice" (Haihongmi) in China
Drought tolerance is a result of a more complex set of genes so progress is more complicated there, but:
Sahbhagi Dhan was specifically bred for the highly vulnerable, rainfed uplands of Eastern India (like Jharkhand, Odisha, and Bihar) and Nepal.
The DRR Dhan series by the Indian Institute of Rice Research
B.S. fear mongering science. First it was global cooling, then ozone layer holes, then global warming before they settled on the catch all l phrase of climate change. People fall for anything. You can tell a tree by the fruit that it bares and this is about nothing more than control and money. Period.
Global warming is the process. Climate change the result. Global cooling was never a scientific stance - just a media ghost.
Nothing ever was shifted about these definitions. They've always been precise and used according to what they actually mean.
[And god in heaven - that's been denialist talk from 15 years ago. Most others moved on from that nonsense (to other nonsense), by now. Did you just wake up?]
GN0K | 2 hours ago
The world is going to be devoid of most food at this rate.
FangFioDente | 2 hours ago
Ag collapse 2-3 years away
happyladpizza | 3 minutes ago
2-3 months 🫩
MoistlyCompetent | 4 hours ago
SUMMARY
A new study published in Communications Earth & Environment warns that climate change is pushing rice-growing regions into temperatures beyond what the crop has experienced in its 9,000-year cultivation history — warming roughly 5,000 times faster than rice can evolve.
Rice farming has historically stayed within a mean annual temperature below 82.4°F (28°C) and warm-season peaks below 91.4°F (33°C). While humans have successfully bred cold-tolerant strains over the centuries, the upper heat threshold has never changed. Above 104°F (40°C), rice photosynthesis shuts down, and excess heat disrupts pollen and grain development.
Researchers acknowledge that adaptation is possible — shifting cultivation to cooler regions or breeding more heat-resistant varieties — but warn these solutions don't protect the communities in South Asia that depend on local rice production for food and income. With over half the world's population relying on rice as a staple, and 90% of cultivation concentrated in Asia, the disruption could have serious food security consequences.
civver3 | 6 hours ago
Well, that's what techniques like controlled breeding up to genetic engineering are for.
spiritofniter | 6 hours ago
To leave genetic destiny in the hands of nature is an inefficient and excruciatingly slow process. Why not jump-start the future of a species?
itwillmakesenselater | 5 hours ago
W. T. F. did I just read? That is some USDA, Grade A, prime Dr. Bronner-level gobbldigook.
LethalRubberKnife | 2 hours ago
A dev diary entry for a scifi grand strategy game
itwillmakesenselater | 2 hours ago
Oh. That made too much sense. 🫤 I thought it was a manifesto.
Chicken_Ingots | 2 hours ago
While I strongly support this as a solution to this problem, I am rather concerned that people will use this as an excuse to not address the climate issues creating this problem in the first place.
Kaurifish | 4 hours ago
The pharmacorps have been promising saline- and drought-resistant traits since ‘00. They have yet to bring one to market.
Some traits are just much harder. They haven’t even managed ablue rose, despite throwing vast resources at it for decades. Don’t assume we can fix all our problems with tech.
FaceDeer | 54 minutes ago
> They have yet to bring one to market.
Did you check? I just Googled and there are tons of salt and drought resistant strains of rice that have been brought to market.
Kaurifish | 38 minutes ago
I certainly have. There seems to be very promising research, but not actual production acreage.
I welcome examples that show otherwise.
FaceDeer | 22 minutes ago
In 2005 the Saltol QTL genes were discovered that gives enhanced salt tolerance to rice. Since then numerous strains have been developed and put into widespread use. Notable examples:
Drought tolerance is a result of a more complex set of genes so progress is more complicated there, but:
These are in widespread actual agricultural use.
DawnPatrol99 | an hour ago
I'm just waiting to be taken out by climate change at this point.
factcheckauthority | 19 minutes ago
Let’s see Paul Allen’s rice
Timberlewis | 2 hours ago
Ya think
Silent-Purchase-7809 | an hour ago
B.S. fear mongering science. First it was global cooling, then ozone layer holes, then global warming before they settled on the catch all l phrase of climate change. People fall for anything. You can tell a tree by the fruit that it bares and this is about nothing more than control and money. Period.
Swarna_Keanu | 34 minutes ago
Global warming is the process. Climate change the result. Global cooling was never a scientific stance - just a media ghost.
Nothing ever was shifted about these definitions. They've always been precise and used according to what they actually mean.
[And god in heaven - that's been denialist talk from 15 years ago. Most others moved on from that nonsense (to other nonsense), by now. Did you just wake up?]
da2Pakaveli | 43 minutes ago
The tree by the fruit is the fossil fuel lobby worth several $100 billions
Why do you think Exxon etc hid those internal environmental studies they conducted in the 50s/60s?
e.g. 1954 https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24001326-air-pollution-foundation-correspondence-papers-of-samuel-epstein-box-1-folder-5-caltech-archives/