It might be weird to think about, but the rice on your dinner plate was a group project featuring farmers, researchers, millers and others, as Little Rock Public Radio's Amir Mahmoud reports. A team at the University of Arkansas Rice Research and Extension Center is working to help the industry weather the impact of climate change.
Arkansans have heard it all before. Rice, for a number of reasons, is an important crop for our state. But don't take my word for it. Just listen to the experts.
“Arkansas is the largest rice producer in the United States. We plant rice for more than a million acres every year. A lot of the rice industries are here, the milling industries. And also it employs a lot of people in the agricultural sector.”
That's Christian De Guzman. He's an expert on plant breeding and genetics. De Guzman and a team of other researchers at the University of Arkansas Rice Research and Extension Center are working to breed a rice crop that is more suited for Arkansas's changing climate. De Guzman's work is two-pronged. Part of his job is selective plant breeding. The other part is conducting research on stressors that can affect rice.
“I'm involved in working on abiotic stress tolerance, that is primarily heat, high nighttime temperature and drought.”
These abiotic, or environmental, factors are affecting rice crops right now, according to De Guzman, and it's up to people like him to breed a more resilient crop.
“All of those are actually happening in relation to climate change. Our high nighttime temperature is increasing, and it's not just for rice. The high nighttime temperature affects all other crops.”
Arkansas's agriculture industry is feeling the impact of climate change, but maybe not in the way you'd think, especially if you've lived through one of those hot and sticky Southern summers. B.J. Baule, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University and the Southern Regional Climate Center, explains.
“For the Southeast, we haven't seen the large increases in daytime high temperatures that they've seen in the western U.S., or the really fast warming wintertime temperatures like they've seen in the northern Plains, where I'm from. What it looks like is it's warming up over time. So when we look at the seasons and break it down, summer and fall we're really not seeing the high temperatures go up that much. Most of the increases we're seeing are in the winter and springtime months and then the overnight lows.”
A warmer climate can also lead to more water in the atmosphere. Baule says this doesn't necessarily mean more rain, but heavier rain events and a faster water cycle, along with carbon emissions from human activity. La Niña and El Niño, natural cycles that affect the temperature of the Pacific Ocean, also play a role in climate change.
“We had a pretty substantial drought across the Southern Plains region in the last couple of years, and I know that extended over into Arkansas a fair amount. What happened there is that was an example of a typical weather pattern associated with La Niña.”
Environmental factors associated with climate change often have a negative effect on rice yields. For example, high nighttime temperatures or extreme heat can result in rice that's more likely to break during the milling process. Any kernel that is less than 75% of its original length is considered broken. Rice brokens, as they're called in the industry, are cheaper than whole-kernel grains. They're often used in beer production, pet food and for sale at the grocery store.
“Some years we have low whole-kernel yields, and unfortunately for us in the rice industry, it seems like the low yield crops are coming more frequently.”
That's Keith Glover, the head of Producers Rice Mill in Stuttgart. He's concerned about what low whole-kernel rice yields mean for farmers.
“When you have a high milling for whole kernels, the price gap between 100 pounds of whole kernel versus brokens could be as narrow as $3 to $5 a hundredweight. And years like we've seen recently, you could widen that number out to $10 to $15 a hundredweight difference.”
The higher prevalence of broken rice is one of the issues De Guzman is trying to solve through selective rice breeding. Because of the many genes that might affect a single trait, it's kind of like a puzzle for De Guzman and his team.
“So our preliminary study shows that, for example, high nighttime temperature, just for a single trait, there might be more than three genes. And other traits, for example, related to chalk, there might be more than five.”
De Guzman says solving this puzzle is cutting edge work.
“There is no varieties, as far as I know, in Arkansas that is heat resistant, that is high nighttime temperature resistant or drought resistant.”
There are other universities around the world that are researching and breeding rice crops to be more climate change resilient. But Arkansas has a distinct advantage because much of the industry is located within the state.
“Our advantage is that we do not just do foundational work, but also the applied breeding work. We are really looking forward to releasing a variety that the farmers can actually use.”
De Guzman says the creation of a rice crop better suited to withstand environmental stressors is several years away. But the data is promising.
“Plant breeding is still a numbers game. That means we have to plant a lot of plants, making a lot of crosses and selections. And as in any other R&D, it takes time. It will take several years for any plant variety or rice variety to be released. But we are very hopeful because our preliminary results are showing promise.”
In Little Rock, I'm Amir Mahmoud.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
