There's rice growing in Palmerston North. It's indoors and being paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. What is unusual about this rice is that it's not flooded with water. Such rice is known as dry-seeded rice, and it uses far less water than paddy field rice, which is how almost all rice is grown worldwide. It also avoids the underwater microbial action in flooded fields that makes rice production a surprisingly high methane emitter, albeit much less so per kilo of food than many animal products. Rice is the staple food of about half the world's population.
It is being grown by BioLumic, which has research centres in Palmerston North and the United States and was this year awarded $3.5 million by the Gates Foundation. It aims to develop seed treatments that enhance rice germination rates, seedling growth, weed competitiveness and drought tolerance, which will help enable small-scale growers in India grow dry-seeded rice.
この記事は New Zealand Listener の November 25 - December 1, 2023 版に掲載されています。
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この記事は New Zealand Listener の November 25 - December 1, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
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