Saturday, December 15, 2018

15th December 2018 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter


Eating white rice regularly may raise type 2 diabetes risk


Eating white rice on a regular basis may increase the risk for type 2 diabetes, according to new Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) research.HSPH researchers from the Department of Nutrition—led by Emily Hu, research assistant, and Qi Sun, research associate—reviewed four earlier studies involving more than 352,000 people from China, Japan, the United States, and Australia who were tracked between four and 22 years. The researchers found that people who ate the most rice—three to four servings a day—were 1.5 times more likely to have diabetes than people who ate the least amount of rice. In addition, for every additional large bowl of white rice a person ate each day, the risk rose 10 percent. The link was stronger for people in Asian countries, who eat an average of three to four servings of white rice per day. People in Western countries eat, on average, one to two servings a week.
The study was published in the British Medical Journal March 15, 2012.
White rice has a high glycemic index, meaning that it can cause spikes in blood sugar. Previous research has linked high glycemic index foods with increased type 2 diabetes risk.
“People should try to make a switch from eating refined carbs like white rice and white bread to eating more whole grains,” Sun told Time magazine.
Additional HSPH authors, also from the Department of Nutrition, included An Pan, research associate, and Vasanti Malik, research fellow.

Traders said GASC received a total of 11 offers, of which all the Chinese samples and one Vietnamese rice sample were accepted
Description: Falling rice Grains of white rice falling through outstretched fingers into shallow glass bowl.
Falling rice Grains of white rice falling through outstretched fingers into shallow glass bowl.
Reuters/ Allison Achauer
By Nadine Awadalla, Reuters News
CAIRO  - Egypt's state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), said on Thursday it had bought 47,500 tonnes of milled white rice in an international purchasing tender for shipment Feb 1 - March 1.
GASC had been seeking short grain milled white rice of any origin, with 10-12 percent broken parts, and asked traders to submit 2 kg samples of their grains for a cooking test.
Traders said GASC received a total of 11 offers, of which all the Chinese samples and one Vietnamese rice sample were accepted, traders said  while all Indian samples and one Vietnamese sample failed the test.
GASC gave no further purchase details.
A trade source gave the following breakdown of the purchase:
* Mufaddal: 38,000 tonnes of Chinese rice plus 25 pct equating to 47,500 tonnes of rice at $405 CIF and letters of credit opened at site. In-land costs for transfer from port to warehouse are 490 Egyptian pounds per tonne.



Exploit Basmati rice export potential: ADB study

Amin AhmedDecember 15, 2018

http://positivenewspaper.com/global-rice-seed-market-insights-2018-2024-dupont-pioneer-bayer-nuziveedu-seeds-kaveri-mahyco-ricetec-krishidhan/Description: INSUFFICIENT investment in agriculture R&D has resulted in sub-optimal yields and a lower-than-potential productivity growth curve of basmati rice varieties.—White Star
INSUFFICIENT investment in agriculture R&D has resulted in sub-optimal yields and a lower-than-potential productivity growth curve of basmati rice varieties.—White Star
ISLAMABAD: The celebrated export of Pakistan’s basmati rice as well as its production has slipped, according to a study of Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The study, ‘Investment in Research and Development for Basmati Rice in Pakistan’ points out that the contribution of basmati rice as a major export commodity is below its potential.
Pakistan is fourth largest rice exporter in terms of quantity, and rice is the country’s second largest export earner, after cotton.
In the last decade, Pakistan’s overall rice export growth has remained unchanged and, in the case of basmati, has dropped significantly.
Newer long grain, non-aromatic varieties have been cutting into basmati’s share of the premium rice market. Low value, non-basmati varieties can still thrive by catering to low-priced, lower-quality markets but premium varieties require greater research and development inv­es­tment to maintain their edge.
The study notes that being a niche variety with a relatively small gene pool, basmati requires more research than other varieties in order to increase its yields, protect it from disease, enhance its ability to compete with other varieties, and increase its resilience to climate and other environmental changes.
Under-investment in basmati research and development (R&D) has led to underperformance of the subsector.
Merely increasing budgetary allocations of public sector R&D will not achieve the intended purpose.
A wholesale reform of the R&D institutional structure is almost impossible given incumbent interests and the absence of political motivation.
While investment in basmati R&D requires attention to the entire value-chain, the single most important aspect is to develop seed varieties that can thrive in changing ecological and marketing environments.
The study says that the cess collected from rice exporters in the last two decades has not been chanelled as the Export Development Fund Act stipulates. The Act specifies that the cess funds can be used for R&D, technical institutes, market and product development, and other areas related to export enhancement.
Rice exporters pay a surcharge of 0.25 per cent, which is deducted by the bank from foreign receipts and submitted to the State Bank of Pakistan.
Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2018
Bago City farmers get P4.2-M in equipment, livelihood
By Erwin Nicavera  December 14, 2018, 7:01 pm
Description: http://files.pna.gov.ph/category-list/2018/12/14/bago-citynegocc-farm-turn-over-.jpeg
FARM EQUIPMENT. Bago City Mayor Nicholas Yulo (center) and Vice Mayor Ramon Torres (2nd from left) lead officials during the turn-over of the P4.2 million worth of farm machinery and livelihood projects at the City Agriculture Office in Barangay Balingasag on Thursday (December 13, 2018). (Photo courtesy of the City of Bago)

BACOLOD CITY -- The City of Bago in Negros Occidental distributed PHP4.2-million worth of farm equipment and livelihood to 14 associations on Thursday.
The turn-over ceremony was led by Mayor Nicholas Yulo and City Agriculturist Carlito Indencia at the City Agriculture Office in Barangay Balingasag.
Yulo said the city government recognizes the need to assist the farmers to attain rice industry development. “The distribution of farm machinery has contributed to the improvement (of rice yield),” the mayor said.
As of November, this year, Bago City’s average rice yield was pegged at 4.4 metric tons per hectare, higher than the 4.1 metric tons per hectare in 2017.
“By boosting our production, we can also contribute to increasing the province’s rice sufficiency level and ensuring food security,” Yulo added.
Dubbed the rice granary of Negros Occidental, Bago City’s contribution to the province’s total rice production is about 19 percent.
Farm machinery units, including a hand tractor, two thresher, one multi-tilling machine, three rice planting machines, and five pumps with engines, were distributed to 10 farmers association-recipients.
These included the Punta Playa Multi-Purpose Association, Mailum Organic Village Association, Barangay Napoles Women Association for Rural Improvement, Fermina Small Water Impounding System Association, Bago Integrated Farmers Association, Small Farmers Association of Abuanan, Dulao and Antipuluan, Newton-Camingawan-Para Farmers Association, Barangay Malingin Farmers Association, Association of Rice Farmers of Tabunan, and Sagasa Women’s Group.
They also received livelihood projects like "balut" (fertilized duck eggs) making, food processing, salted egg making, and mushroom production.
Four fisherfolk associations, including Taloc Baybay Fisherfolk Association, Calubay Anahaw Small Fishermen Association, Can-itum Integrated Fisherfolk Association, and Barangay Calumangan Integrated Fisherfolk Association, were provided alternative livelihood projects such as fish vending, rag making as well as cooking equipment and facilities.
Indencia said the machinery and livelihood projects are funded by the city government through its Agriculture Development Program.
“The program covers the city’s measure to develop its rice and fishery sectors,” he said, adding that it also aims to provide farmers and fisherfolk alternative sources of income through the livelihood development component. 

Could gene-edited asexual rice produce better crops?
14 December 2018
A gene editing technique has been used to produce asexual rice, which could carry traits such as high yields and drought resistance. The Innovative Genomics Institute in the US explains how it works and why the researchers behind this innovation believe it will improve commercial rice crops.(Image: Diagram explaining how newly engineered rice can reproduce asexually, Credit: Innovative Genomics Institute.)

Friday, December 14, 2018

14th December,2018 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter

N. Korea food production down in 2018: UN body

Food production has fallen this year in isolated, nuclear-armed North Korea, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Rice output is expected to come in below average because of erratic rains, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization warned, adding that food insecurity 'continues to remain a key concern' | © WFP/AFP | GERALD BOURKE
Seoul (AFP) |
Rice and maize are the North’s main staples, but rice output was expected to be below average because of erratic rains and low irrigation supplies, the FAO said in its quarterly Crop Prospects and Food Situation report.
Unfavourable weather conditions also diminished maize yields, it added.
As a result the country would need to import 641,000 tonnes of food in the coming year, up from 456,000 tonnes this year, when it bought 390,000 tonnes and received 66,000 tonnes in food aid.
There was a widespread lack of access to food in the North, it said in the document.
“Food insecurity continues to remain a key concern, with conditions aggravated by the below-average 2018 main season output,” it said.
Agricultural production is chronically poor in the North, which only has a limited supply of arable land.
The country has periodically been hit by famine, and hundreds of thousands of people died — estimates range into the millions — in the mid-1990s.
North Korea was one of 40 countries — 31 of them in Africa — listed as in need of external assistance for food in the report.
UN agencies estimate that 10.3 million people in the North need humanitarian assistance. But donor funding has dried up in the face of political tensions over its weapons programmes, with critics saying that the provision of aid encourages Pyongyang to prioritise its military ambitions over adequately providing for its people.
David Beasley, the head of the UN’s World Food Programme, said in May that there was undoubtedly a hunger problem in North Korea but it was not on the scale of the 1990s famine.

Iraq signs wheat, rice imports with the United States

December 13, 2018, 04:11:00 AM EDT By Reuters

BAGHDAD, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Iraq has signed an agreement with the United States to import U.S. wheat and rice, the Iraqi trade minister said on Thursday.The agreement covers the first half of 2019, Mohammed Hashim said at a signing ceremony in Baghdad."The agreement signals a wider cooperation with the American companies to supply Iraq with wheat and rice for 2019. The cabinet has approved it," Iraqi trade minister Mohammed Hashim said during ceremonies held in Baghdad and attended by the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
The trade minister said this deal was signed because Iraq prefers the high quality of the U.S. rice and wheat.
Iraq needs an annual wheat supply of between 4.5 million and five million tonnes, and has an import gap of around two million tonnes a year.
The country spends billions of dollars annually on a Saddam Hussein-era programme for food rationing, the Public Distribution System, which distributes subsidised bread and other essential food.

Rice Prices

as on : 13-12-2018 12:37:02 PM

Arrivals in tonnes;prices in Rs/quintal in domestic market.
Arrivals
Price
Current
%
change
Season
cumulative
Modal
Prev.
Modal
Prev.Yr
%change
Rice
Bahraich(UP)
275.60
49.38
8989.30
2400
2400
7.62
Bazpur(Utr)
130.70
-51.32
3792.20
2350
2395
-4.08
Barhaj(UP)
90.00
-10
5474.00
2290
2280
-
Lakhimpur(UP)
42.50
-1.16
1555.00
2270
2260
4.61
Kaliaganj(WB)
40.00
100
530.00
3150
3450
18.87
Balrampur(UP)
11.00
-54.17
258.00
2250
2250
-
Anandnagar(UP)
10.00
-50
202.80
2250
2250
-
Chitwadagaon(UP)
9.00
NC
477.70
2100
2100
-1.41
Mirzapur(UP)
6.00
33.33
1047.00
2300
2290
-
Ruperdeeha(UP)
6.00
NC
542.00
1600
1600
-
Nautnava(UP)
5.00
400
80.50
2250
2250
10.29
Kalyanpur(Tri)
4.00
-4.76
93.30
2700
2750
-1.82
Jahangirabad(UP)
3.00
NC
245.00
2580
2575
9.79
Sehjanwa(UP)
3.00
NC
268.70
2160
2160
-
Amroha(UP)
2.00
5.26
115.82
2600
2600
5.26
Alibagh(Mah)
1.00
NC
33.00
2250
2250
-43.75
Murud(Mah)
1.00
NC
32.00
2250
2250
-25.00
Published on December 13, 2018

Scientists clone hybrid rice seeds in breakthrough that could cut costs for farmers

Hybrid seeds created by crossing two varieties have superior qualities including high yield, pest resistance and climate tolerance and have been used by farmers for decades

Last Published: Thu, Dec 13 2018. 11 54 PM IST
Scientists in the US and France have successfully tweaked a hybrid variety of Rice Japonica’ (Asian variety) so that some of the plants produce cloned seeds.
New Delhi: In a breakthrough for farmers across the world, especially those from developing countries, scientists have discovered a way to clone hybrid seeds of rice.
Hybrid seeds created by crossing two varieties have superior qualities including high yield, pest resistance and climate tolerance and have been used by farmers for decades. However, a major challenge with such crops so far has been that unlike other crops, their seeds do not produce plants with same qualities.
So, farmers have had no option but to buy expensive hybrid seeds every year. “These seeds are not only expensive, but have to be purchased every year, which puts a lot of burden on poor farmers,” said Jagmohan Singh, farmer union leader from Patiala, Punjab.
Now, scientists in the US and France have successfully tweaked a hybrid variety of Rice Japonica (Asian variety) so that some of the plants produce cloned seeds, according to research published in the latest edition of journal Nature. This, experts said, would enable farmers to re-plant seeds from their own hybrid plants and derive the benefits of high yields year after year, instead of having to purchase expensive new seeds every year.
Japonica and Indica are the two major varieties of rice grown around the world. While Japonica is grown in countries with cooler climates, Indica is usually cultivated in countries with hot temperatures such as India.
“It’s a very desirable goal that could change agriculture. The approach should work in other cereal crops, which have equivalent genes,” said Prof Venkatesan Sundaresan of the University of California, Davis, who was among the researchers. Wheat, corn, barley and millets are among other cereal crops which have equivalent genes.
Asexual reproduction through seeds, called Apomixis, is known to occur naturally in more than 400 species of wild plants, but not in crops. This mechanism of seed production allows a plant to clone itself through a seed, without fertilization and, thus prevents any loss of hybrid characters in plants. However, recreating these pathways in crop plants has been a challenge to science.
“Ensuring that crops pass on hybrid qualities to seeds has been a major challenge, but the current research fills gaps in previous studies,” said Imran Siddiqui, plant geneticist at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.
“The team has shown a proof of principle in an important crop like rice, which is very significant. The target now is to improve the efficiency of this clonal propagation to reap maximum benefit.”
Researchers discovered that a rice gene called “Baby Boom 1” (BBM1) is expressed in sperm cells, but not in eggs. After fertilization, BBM1 is expressed in the fertilized cell. Scientists reasoned that this expression initially comes from the male contribution to the genome, and that BBM1 switches on the ability of a fertilized egg to form an embryo. The team then used gene-editing techniques to remove the ability of plants to undergo sexual reproduction. The egg cells are thus formed asexually.
“We are currently using over 40 hybrid varieties of rice in this country and the research would be very useful for farmers who would be able to save these seeds for future use,” said V.P. Singh, former programme leader (rice) at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, whose team had once led a breakthrough in hybridization of Basmati rice following the development of PUSA-1121.
The current research was conducted by postdoctoral researcher Imtiyaz Khanday and Prof Venkatesan Sundaresan at University of California, Davis and researchers from the Iowa State University and INRA, France.

NSF awards $2M for researchers on trail of peak productivity

By Melanie Lefkowitz |

 
Work schedules that disrupt our natural circadian rhythms come with consequences.
Around 20 percent of employees perform shift work – rotating or nontraditional work hours – and these schedules have been linked to health problems including heart disease, diabetes and depression. Tired workers are more likely to be distracted, inefficient and prone to error. For workers such as medical clinicians or truck drivers, minor mistakes can be deadly.
Tanzeem Choudhury, associate professor of information science, and colleagues at Rice University and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, were recently awarded a four-year, $2 million National Science Foundation grant to explore how measuring people’s biological clocks can help improve their performance or lower their stress.
Tanzeem Choudhury
“We want to look at how we can augment and enhance people’s alertness and ability to perform tasks,” Choudhury said. “Are there peak periods when they can focus on things that are more cognitively demanding than others, and can we align people’s task performance with their biological rhythm?”
Choudhury and her team are developing tools that can monitor biological clocks unobtrusively, through devices such as smartphones and smartwatches. That information could be put to use to make people healthier, less anxious and more productive.
The project builds on previous work in Choudhury’s People-Aware Computing Lab, including smartphone based tools that calculate alertness by photographing the size of your pupils, or measure your sleep and behavior to determine whether your sleep aligns with your biological clock.
“There are rhythms during the day, there are ebbs and flows that we are trying to track using these kinds of sensing devices,” she said. “And then once you’re able to understand a person’s rhythm, there are different ways to intervene.”
Possibilities for interventions range widely, depending on the type of work someone is performing. In the trucking industry, scheduling drivers who are naturally morning people to drive early shifts, and those who tend to stay up late to drive at night, could both improve truckers’ health and reduce accidents.
Office workers might take steps to limit distractions during periods of peak alertness, such as reducing email notifications. They could schedule rote tasks requiring less focus during the periods when they’re less cognitively alert.
Members of the team are also exploring ways to offer subtle interventions when people are feeling anxious or distracted. Exposing them to light when they are less alert, for instance, or using a smartwatch to deliver relaxing vibrations when it senses stress, could potentially help people feel or perform better, Choudhury said.
“If people have a lot of tasks they need to complete and they’re not really aligned with their rhythms, they’re not functioning at their optimal level,” she said.
The NSF awarded a total of $25 million for 26 projects as part of its Future of Work – Human Technology Frontier initiative, which aims to respond to the challenges and opportunities of a changing workforce. Choudhury will receive $590,000 for her portion of the project.
Choudhury said that to address privacy issues, all the tools she and her students are developing have been made available only to individuals through their own devices. More widespread use would need to be implemented thoughtfully and carefully to protect an employee’s privacy and autonomy.
“It would have to be used in specific contexts that are beneficial both to employer and employee,” she said. Biological rhythm “disruptions are causing problems at an individual and societal level, and interventions can be structured in a way that is beneficial to everyone.”

Park Misoo m [CC0 or CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Using CRISPR gene editing, researchers develop self-cloning hybrid rice

 Dec 13, 2018
After decades of efforts, scientists have managed to modify a hybrid rice strain so that it passes on its favorable traits in its own seeds, according to ScienceDaily. By producing clones from its seeds, instead of requiring fertilization, the hybrids would allow farmers to replant seeds from their own plants instead of having to buy expensive new seeds each growing season.
Some wild plants, such as blackberries, have evolved the ability to self-replicate in a process called apomixis. But scientists have struggled to reproduce that process in commercial hybrids, which offer benefits like higher yields or resistance to pests and disease.
“It’s a very desirable goal that could change agriculture,” said Venkatesan Sundaresan, a University of California, Davis professor of plant biology who made the discovery, along with postdoctoral researcher Imtiyaz Khanday.
The researchers have now made a breakthrough toward that goal, with a hybrid strain of rice.
The researchers discovered that in fertilized plant eggs, the male version of genes called BBM1 or “Baby Boom 1,” spark the process of embryo formation in a seed. They used a genetic switch called a promoter that would allow a female version of the gene perform the same function on its own.
But since a normal egg that had formed through the normal cell division process, meiosis, would have contained only half the necessary chromosomes, more changes were still necessary.
Using an approach developed by French National Institute for Agricultural Research plant geneticist and study coauthor Raphael Mercier, the team disabled genes necessary for meiosis, leading the rice to reproduce asexually through mitosis instead. Sundaresan and Khanday updated Mercier’s procedure, using CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing to disable the genes.
In a type of japonica rice called Kitaake, the process succeeded in allowing about 30 percent of plants to produce viable seed clones with all the desirable hybrid genetic traits passed on. In turn, those seeds grew into plants that successfully produced clones, which themselves produced yet another generation of hybrid clones.
Sundaresan says the researchers will now work to make the process more efficient.
The development could help farmers, especially in developing countries, produce enough food for the world’s growing population. Hybrid plants can even offer properties that make them more resistant to climate change, which means the new process could play a crucial role in adapting food production to the extreme weather and higher temperatures that come with climate change.
The study was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

Hybrid Rice Contrived By CRISPR Can Clone Its Seeds

  comments off
Succeeding more than 20 years of conjecturing about it, scientists have modified a hybrid diversification of rice so that some of the plants generate cloned seeds. Intersecting two fine varieties of grain can render one prodigious one, merging the principal variety of genes to yield crops advisable attributes such as greater produce.
However, such hybrid grain miracles usually do not progress along those desired genetic aspect to all seeds in the course of reproduction. Therefore farmers who persistently want excessive produce have to disburse for the contemporary hybrid seeds every year.
This contemporary lab genre of hybrid rice would protect those constitution through self-cloning says study coauthor Venkatesan Sundaresan, a plant geneticist at the University of California, Davis.
Albeit 400 types of plants encompassing some blackberries and citruses have engendered self-cloning seeds inherently overhauling those routes in crop plants has been difficult than anybody anticipated Sundaresan says. He and his teammates envisioned the idea for the contemporary research while scrutinizing how a fertilized egg becomes a zygote, this mystical cell that restores a whole organism.
The researchers found that recasting two sets of genes engendered the Japonica rice hybrid called Kitaake to clone its own seeds. Initially the team discovered that in an impregnated plant egg only the male variety of a gene called BABY BOOM1 discovered in sperm propelled the evolvement of seed embryo. Therefore the scientists thrust a genetic starter switch, called a promoter that allows the female variety of the same gene do similar work

Scientists discover novel way to grow rice plant clones from seeds

BBM1 switches on the ability of a fertilised egg to form an embryo, according to the study published in the journal Nature.


Devdiscourse News Desk Losangeles Last Updated at 13-12-2018 14:04:20 IST United States
Scientists, including those of Indian origin, have discovered a way to grow rice plant clones from seeds, an advance that could lead to high-yielding and disease-resistant crops.
The ability to produce a clone, an exact replica, of a plant from its seeds would be a major breakthrough for world agriculture, said researchers at the University of California, Davis in the US.
Instead of purchasing expensive hybrid seeds each year, which is often beyond the means of farmers in developing countries, farmers could replant seeds from their own hybrid plants and derive the benefits of high yields year after year.
"It's a very desirable goal that could change agriculture," said Venkatesan Sundaresan, a professor at UC Davis.
Sundaresan and postdoctoral researcher Imtiyaz Khanday discovered that the rice gene BBM1, belonging to a family of plant genes called "Baby Boom" or BBM, is expressed in sperm cells but not in eggs.
After fertilisation, BBM1 is expressed in the fertilised cell but -- at least initially -- this expression comes from the male contribution to the genome.
BBM1 switches on the ability of a fertilised egg to form an embryo, according to the study published in the journal Nature.
Researchers first used gene editing to remove the ability of the plants to go through meiosis (cell division), so that the egg cells formed instead by mitosis, inheriting a full set of chromosomes from the mother.
Then they caused these egg cells to express BBM1, which they would not normally do without fertilisation.
"So we have a diploid egg cell with the ability to make an embryo, and that grows into a clonal seed," Sundaresan said.
So far the process has an efficiency of about 30 per cent, but the researchers hope that can be increased with more research.
The approach should work in other cereal crops, which have equivalent BBM1 genes, and in other crop plants as well, Sundaresan said.
Video Contest Winner Tells Positive Story of Environmental Impact of Louisiana Rice  

SAN DIEGO, CA -- The Cajun combination of rice and crawfish production not only drives southern Louisiana economically but also positively impacts the region's environment.  This story of rice production's environmental benefits, told in video form, won one Louisiana high school senior this year's National Rice Month scholarship.

Caroline Benoit, winner of the 2018 scholarship sponsored by Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, received a $4,000 scholarship and a trip for two to the awards ceremony at last week's 2018 USA Rice Outlook Conference in San Diego.

Benoit attends Louise S. McGehee School in New Orleans.  Her winning video, titled "Rice in Louisiana," was chosen from a field of 86 entries and is a comprehensive overview of rice production in her home state.

"I think when most people think of rice, they think of the most obvious -- food," Benoit said.  "But I learned there's so much more to rice and its importance to my home state and the nation as a whole."

Benoit admitted to some hesitance about working on a project like this that was outside her comfort zone.  "By winning, I mostly learned that if I just put myself out there and try something new, the outcome could be really good."

See all the winning videos here.


2019/21 Leadership Development Program Class Announced  

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Members of the 2019/21 Rice Leadership Development Program class were announced last week during the annual Rice Awards Luncheon at the 2018 USA Rice Outlook Conference.  The class is comprised of seven rice industry professionals selected by a committee of agribusiness leaders.

"This is a very outstanding and diverse group of young men and I think they will mesh well together in their upcoming sessions," said Rice Foundation Director Steve Linscombe.

New class members are Jason Bond, Stoneville, MS; Austin Davis, Cleveland MS; Michael Durand, St. Martinsville, LA; Bobby Golden, Leland, MS; Austin Littleton, Parma, MO; Matthew Morris, Carlisle, AR; and Justin Nix, Maurice, LA.

The Rice Leadership Development Program gives young men and women a comprehensive understanding of the U.S. rice industry, with an emphasis on personal development and communication training.  During a two-year period, class members attend four one-week sessions that are designed to strengthen their leadership skills.

John Deere Company, RiceTec, Inc., and American Commodity Company are sponsors of the Rice Leadership Development Program through a grant to The Rice Foundation, and USA Rice manages the program.

Revised Definition of Waters of the U.S. Announced   

WASHINGTON, DC -- At a public event held Tuesday at EPA headquarters, EPA's Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced the imminent publication of a new definition for Water of the United States (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act to replace the 2015 WOTUS rule.




During the briefing, the agency reiterated the importance of predictability and indicated that one of the main goals is that a landowner should be able to determine what is and isn't a WOTUS on their land without needing to hire several lawyers and hydrology experts.

"Many of us live on the land we work, and not only do we want clean water to produce our crops, we also want clean water for our families.  We also need rules that are clear so it's straightforward how to comply with them," said Arkansas farmer David Gairhan.  "I applaud the work the EPA is doing to try and provide us with certainty of what is and is not defined and regulated as a WOTUS so we can get back to doing what we do best, farming."

"USA Rice appreciates the efforts of EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to solicit feedback prior to drafting this new proposal and applauds the agencies' commitment to continued engagement with stakeholders," said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward.  "We look forward to implementation of a commonsense new water rule that provides clarity for our members."

Once published, the rule will have a 60-day comment period.  USA Rice will provide substantive comments for the industry and encourages our members to provide individual comments of their own.

Rice plants that grow as clones from seed

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS

IMAGE: POSTDOC IMTIYAZ KHANDAY AND PROFESSOR VENKATESAN SUNDARESAN WITH CLONED RICE PLANTS IN A UC DAVIS GREEN HOUSE, DECEMBER 2018. KHANDAY, SUNDARESAN AND COLLEAGUES HAVE SOLVED THE PROBLEM OF PROPAGATING... view more 
CREDIT: UC REGENTS
Plant biologists at the University of California, Davis have discovered a way to make crop plants replicate through seeds as clones. The discovery, long sought by plant breeders and geneticists, could make it easier to propagate high-yielding, disease-resistant or climate-tolerant crops and make them available to the world's farmers.
The work is published Dec. 12 in the journal Nature.
Since the 1920s, many crops have been grown from hybrid seeds created by crossing two varieties. These hybrids can have superior qualities in areas such as yield or pest resistance. But the seeds of hybrid crops do not produce plants with the same qualities.
The ability to produce a clone, an exact replica, of a plant from its seeds would be a major breakthrough for world agriculture. Instead of purchasing expensive hybrid seeds each year, which is often beyond the means of farmers in developing countries, farmers could replant seeds from their own hybrid plants and derive the benefits of high yields year after year.
About 400 species of wild plants can produce viable seeds without fertilization. Called apomixis, this process seems to have evolved many times in plants - but not in commercial crop species.
The discovery by postdoctoral researcher Imtiyaz Khanday and Venkatesan Sundaresan, professor of plant biology at UC Davis and colleagues at UC Davis, the Iowa State University and INRA, France is a major step forward.
"It's a very desirable goal that could change agriculture," Sundaresan said.
"Baby boom" gene is key
Khanday and Sundaresan discovered that the rice gene BBM1, belonging to a family of plant genes called "Baby Boom" or BBM, is expressed in sperm cells but not in eggs. After fertilization, BBM1 is expressed in the fertilized cell but -- at least initially--this expression comes from the male contribution to the genome.
BBM1, they reasoned, switches on the ability of a fertilized egg to form an embryo.
The researchers first used gene editing to remove the ability of the plants to go through meiosis, so that the egg cells formed instead by mitosis, inheriting a full set of chromosomes from the mother.
Then they caused these egg cells to express BBM1, which they would not normally do without fertilization.
"So we have a diploid egg cell with the ability to make an embryo, and that grows into a clonal seed," Sundaresan said.
So far the process has an efficiency of about 30 percent, but the researchers hope that can be increased with more research. The approach should work in other cereal crops, which have equivalent BBM1 genes, and in other crop plants as well, Sundaresan said.
###
Other authors on the paper are Debra Skinner at UC Davis, Bing Yang at Iowa State University and Raphael Mercier, INRA, Versailles, France.
The work has been funded by the Innovative Genome Institute, a joint venture between UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco that focuses on applying genome editing to solve global problems, and by the National Science Foundation.

Central American rice millers want changes to US trade pact

By Bill Tomson
Rice millers and farmers from Central America and the Dominican Republic are making an urgent plea to their U.S. counterparts: Help stop the reduction in tariffs on U.S. rice

ASIA RICE-VIETNAM RATES DIP FOR 4TH WEEK AS CHINESE NORMS BITE

12/13/2018
* India prices unchanged at $364-$368
* Thai rates little changed as demand remains flat
By K. Sathya Narayanan
BENGALURU, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Rice export prices fell for the fourth consecutive week in Vietnam on concerns of lower intake from China due to stricter norms in Beijing, while subdued demand weighed on the Indian and Thai markets.
In Vietnam, the third biggest exporter of the staple, prices of the benchmark 5 percent broken variety <RI-VNBKN5-P1> fell to $395 a tonne from last week's $400 level.
"We are still concerned about China's move to impose stricter conditions on shipments from Vietnam as China is the largest export market," a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said.
"This will have an adverse impact on Vietnam's rice exports for the coming years."
Vietnam's rice shipments to China fell 39.1 percent in the first 10 months of 2018 from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
In Thailand, benchmark 5 percent broken rice <RI-THBKN5-P1> prices were quoted at $385-$393, free on board Bangkok, versus $390-$393 last week on flat demand, traders said, adding the market was likely to remain quiet going into the new year period.
"There are talks that some of our neighbours like the Philippines still want more rice, but there are no indications at this stage whether there will be fresh deals," a Bangkok-based rice trader said.
A gradual increase in supply due to seasonal harvesting during the December and January period could further dampen prices, another trader said.
Meanwhile, rates for top exporter India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety <RI-INBKN5-P1> were unchanged from the previous week at $364-$368 per tonne. "We have slashed prices in the last few weeks after a subsidy was announced, but demand is still weak," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh adding it was not possible to cut prices further, while local paddy prices are firm.
The Indian government will give a subsidy of 5 percent for non-basmati rice exports for the four months to March 25, 2019, the trade ministry said last month.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Bangladesh's rain-fed rice, or 'Aman' crop, is likely to rise to 14 million tonnes from 13.5 million tonnes the previous year, helped by favourable weather, Mohammad Mohsin, director general of Department of Agriculture Extension, told Reuters.
Aman, the second biggest crop after the summer variety Boro, makes up about 38 percent of Bangladesh's total production of around 35 million tonnes.
The south Asian country, which emerged as a major importer in 2017 after floods damaged its crops, imposed 28 percent duty to support its farmers after local production revived this year.
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok, Khanh Vu in Hanoi, Ruma Paul in Dhaka and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; Editing by Arpan Varghese/David Evans)
India rice rates slip; tough Chinese rules dent Vietnam exports
Rice export prices fell a the second consecutive week in India on a weakening rupee and slow demand, while strict inspections from top consumer China muted exports from Vietnam.
By : Reuters
Dec 6, 2018 19:33 IST

Labourers remove dried grass from a rice field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, August 30, 2016. Picture taken August 30, 2016 (representational image).Reuters file
Rice export prices fell a the second consecutive week in India on a weakening rupee and slow demand, while strict inspections from top consumer China muted exports from Vietnam.
India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety was quoted around $364-$368 per tonne this week, from $366-$370 the last week.
"Prices are down as traders are adjusting to the drop in the rupee. Demand is still weak," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The Indian rupee fell nearly 1 percent on Thursday to the lowest level in two weeks, increasing exporters margin from the overseas sales.
In an attempt to accelerate exports, the Indian government last month said it will give a 5 percent subsidy for non-basmati rice shipments for the four months to March 25, 2019.
In neighbouring Bangladesh, rice imports in July-November stood at 106,640 tonnes, the country's food ministry data showed, after the government imposed a 28 percent tax on shipments to support its farmers after local production revived.
Meanwhile, in Vietnam, rates for 5 percent broken rice dipped to $400 a tonne from $408 last week as exports to China fell on stricter inspections and conditions on Vietnamese rice, traders said.

"Exports to China are almost frozen, no one dares to buy or sell. Some people who had their rice ready at the port now have to take them back because they fear the Chinese side will not take them," a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said.
However, the fall in prices was limited due to tight supply at the end of a small crop season in Vietnam and orders from rice-scarce Philippines.
The next major crop harvest in the southeast-Asian nation, the winter-spring crop, is due next March.
In Thailand, benchmark 5 percent broken rice prices narrowed to $390-$393, free on board (FOB) Bangkok, from $380-$397 last week.
"Apart from the recent order from the Philippines, Thai rice exporters are not expecting any large order until early 2019," a Bangkok-based rice trader said.
Traders attributed this week's fluctuation in rice prices to the exchange rate. The Thai baht shed more than a quarter of a percent on Thursday, after rising for four previous sessions.
"Some exporters are still talking about a possible deal to markets like Japan and Indonesia, but so far things are quiet and will likely remain this way until January," said another Bangkok-based trader.


Govt extends duty benefits to non-basmati rice exporters to boost shipment

The duty benefit is provided under the commerce ministry's Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS)

Press Trust of India  |  New Delhi  Last Updated at November 26, 2018 15:06 IST
The government has extended duty benefits to non-basmati rice exporters under a scheme to boost the shipment of the agri commodity.The duty benefit is provided under the commerce ministry's Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).
"Non-basmati rice items have been made eligible for MEIS benefits at the rate of 5 per cent for exports made with effect from November 26 and up to March 25, 2019," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said in a public notice.
DGFT, under the commerce ministry deals with export and import related policies.
Under MEIS, government provides duty credit scrip or certificate depending on product and country.
Those scrips can be transferred or used for payment of a number of duties including the basic customs duty.
India is one of the largest exporters of non-basmati rice and in 2017-18, the country exported 8.63 million tonnes of the rice, which was more than double the quantity of basmati rice exports of 4.05 million tonnes.
Non-basmati rice exports during April-February 2018 stood at $3.26 billion as against $2.53 billion in 2016-17.
Rice is the country's main kharif crop. As per the first advance estimates of foodgrains production for kharif (summer-sown) season for 2018-19 crop year, rice output is estimated at record 99.24 million tonnes as against 97.5 million tonnes of production in last year's kharif season.
The sowing operation of kharif crops begins with onset of monsoon and harvesting starts from mid-September. Paddy, maize and soyabean are major kharif crops.
Iraq signs wheat, rice imports with the United States
Iraq has signed an agreement with the United States to import U.S. wheat and rice, the Iraqi trade minister said on Thursday. The agreement covers the first half of 2019, Mohammed Hashim said at a signing ceremony in Baghdad. “The agreement signals a wider cooperation with the American companies to supply Iraq with wheat and rice for 2019. The cabinet has approved it,” Iraqi trade minister Mohammed Hashim said during ceremonies held in Baghdad and attended by the U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
The trade minister said this deal was signed because Iraq prefers the high quality of the U.S. rice and wheat. Iraq needs an annual wheat supply of between 4.5 million and five million tonnes, and has an import gap of around two million tonnes a year. The country spends billions of dollars annually on a Saddam Hussein-era programme for food rationing, the Public Distribution System, which distributes subsidised bread and other essential food.

Bangladeshi farmer has a collection of 200 rare, almost extinct varieties of paddy

Dhaka, December 14 (The Daily Star): Seeing Yusuf Molla’s collection of paddies, one is likely to reminisce about the famous verses of Jogindranath’s poem “Kajer Chhele”: “Dadkhani chal, mosurir dal, chini-pata doi…”
Yusuf, a farmer in Rajshahi’s Tanore, has at least 200 rare and almost extinct varieties of paddy in his collection that he has developed over the years out of love for the crop.
During a visit last month, this correspondent found 77 sections in Yusuf’s land. Each section had a signboard carrying the name of the variety cultivated there.
Each variety has a distinct texture, colour, smell, and taste.
Yusuf said “Dadkhani” rice was rich in zinc. In the past, Bangalees used to serve it as a wholesome meal to the ailing.
“Raida” is slightly thin rice and the “mother of all paddies,” according to Yusuf.
The “Black Pankhiraj” has white parts on both sides and looks like a bird. Two grains grow from one seed of “Boiram Shundori”, also known as “Dui Shotin”. “Randhuni Pagol” has an enchanting scent.
“Kajaldigha”, “Laxmidigha”, and “Kalarai” can survive floods, while “Bhadoi”, “Kaloshoni”, “Kumri”, and “Shankhaboti” are resistant to droughts.
Yusuf and the farmers employed by him cultivated at least 150 varieties in 15 districts of Rajshahi division this year.
With yields from 82 varieties, Yusuf celebrated Nabanna Utsav (the festival of new crop) on December 9. On the occasion, around 200 guests including farmers were served with traditional recipes made of the rare varieties.
“I love the varieties. So, I feel the need to preserve them before they are lost,” Yusuf said. He collected the seeds from different corners of the country.
The 74-year-old farmer has one bigha of land in Duboil village where he has been cultivating the paddies for the last 50 years.
Shahidul Islam, regional coordinator of Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (Barcik) lauded Yusuf for his passion.
“Preserving the varieties is important as paddy cultivation is losing momentum due to climate change. Yusuf did what the government ought to have done,” he said.
Yusuf inherited his passion for paddies from his father Abdur Rahman Malakar who produced different varieties every year and entertained villagers with the yields during Nabanna.
In 1968, the year Yusuf got married, he noticed that farmers were leaning towards IRRI-8 variety instead of local varieties.
“I feared that one day the local varieties might just vanish.” He started his search for the nearly extinct varieties in 2000. He travelled to Chattogram, Khulna, Barishal, Rangpur, and different districts in Rajshahi division in this endeavour.
“I went to every place where I could find a rare variety,” he told this correspondent.
Yusuf’s contributions were recognised in 2013 when he received the National Environment Award. This accolade motivated him to delve more into his passion.
He founded the “Barind Seed Bank” with assistance from Barcik officials in 2015. Bangladesh Rice Research Institute collected 110 varieties from the bank last year. Officials from different research institutes and farmers visit his bank regularly, said Yusuf.
The bank provides seeds to farmers for free and realises a portion of their harvest in return. Those grains are again distributed among another set of farmers. In this way, the bank helps keep the production flowing.
Yusuf has one worry. “I am growing old. What would happen to my collection after my death?”
(The featured photo shows Yusuf Molla the Bangladeshi who is cultivating 200 rare varieties of paddy, some almost extinct) 
https://newsin.asia/bangladeshi-farmer-has-a-collection-of-200-rare-almost-extinct-varieties-of-paddy/

Yielding is the new director of the National Onion Association

National Onion Association
December 13, 2018
Arkansas- and Missouri-based rice front man Greg Yielding has officially assumed the executive vice president role at the National Onion Association.
Based in Greeley, Colo., the National Onion Association represents roughly 500 onion growers, shippers, and suppliers across the country. Yielding will take over for retiring executive vice president Wayne Mininger, who has held the position for 33 years. Yielding will officially start on Jan. 2, after spending the last 14 years advocating and marketing rice all over the world.
Yielding hails from Jackson, Mo., where he has been serving simultaneously as the director of emerging markets and special projects for the U.S. Rice Producers Association, as the executive director of the Missouri Rice Research and Merchandising Council, and as the executive director for the Arkansas Rice Growers Association.
"We are very excited to have Greg on board and look forward to him representing our industry through whatever challenges come our way, and as all of us know will come," said NOA President Doug Stanley. "Greg's background with association work and his extensive legislative background should serve our association well."
Though he came up the political route, Yielding has grown to know farmers and agriculture in the past 14 years advocating for rice.
"I like representing the farmers and growers," he said. "I believe that everyone needs to be represented, and representing farmers is important for the country."He welcomes the opportunity to lobby and market on behalf of onions in Washington.
Prior to serving on the rice councils, he was the executive director for the Arkansas Cable Telecommunications Association for 10 years.Yielding is used to wearing many hats. While serving as constable in North Little Rock from 1994-2004, he also served on the North Little Rock City Council, from 2000-2004. He's been serving as the chairman of the Jackson Historic District Commission since last year.
Yielding is married to Caroline; he has a 7-year-old son named Elisha and a 23-year-old son, Zachary, who is in the U.S. Marines.

The impact of climate inaction on food security

By Lisa Cornish // 13 December 2018
A farmer watering plants at an organic farm in Boung Phao Village, Laos. Photo by: Asian Development Bank / CC BY-NC-ND
CANBERRA — The global food system needs to be transformed to respond to the health and nutrition needs of the future. To achieve this, however, there needs to be a strong global program to prevent greater threats from climate change.
In Canberra on Nov. 30, leaders of three CGIAR centers gathered to talk about global food systems as part of a forum on transforming global food systems hosted by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. The message on climate was consistent: Food security is critical to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. But climate change is creating a risk that is growing rapidly.
“One of the biggest issues in the use of averages is that it hides the real story of climate change. The real story is around the variability and unpredictability of weather.”
— Matthew Morell, director general, International Rice Research Institute
Martin Kropff, director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, and Matthew Morell, director general of the International Rice Research Institute, spent their time visiting Australian research institutes and presenting at a range of forums. As part of their visit, they spoke to Devex about the limits of agricultural research, and why we may be fast hitting barriers of how science can solve food crises in a fast-changing environment.
“Whether it is rice, maize, and livestock, we are looking at similar questions: the livelihood of smallholder farmers, nutrition, empowerment of women, and impact of climate change,” Morell said. “We need to do this to come up with an overall comprehensive solution to solve some of these challenges.”

Food security requires climate action

“In 1993, I was a scientist at IRRI and our crop models [were] incorporating early climate change projections,” Kropff said. “We made a prediction based on the available models and in those days we wanted to be careful and not alarmist. And I was skeptical. But 25 years later what the models projected is happening. These predictions are real — and I am convinced we have to get out act together. It is not going to be simple.”
Though the impact of climate change on the environment and food security has been known for decades, the response has been limited.
“We have individuals in the world — it is pretty clear who they are — that really want to put their head in the sand about this issue,” Morell said. “They will say that if it’s cold, that is proof that global warming doesn’t really exist. But there are also those who point to averages.
“One of the biggest issues in the use of averages is that it hides the real story of climate change. The real story is around the variability and unpredictability of weather. What I see on the ground is that a monsoon is delayed. I see that there is rain in the dry season when farmers really need it to be dry because they have planted crops that can’t cope with excess water,” Morell said.
Among the solutions are to build in biological insurances within plants, giving them the ability to withstand these stresses — whichever way the production season turns out. There is also crop insurance for smallholder farmers so they have the confidence to invest in inputs, maximizing their potential income without fear of being financially destroyed because of the weather.
But it is crucial, both Morell and Kropff said, that such solutions are coupled with action to prevent global warming to levels currently being forecast.

Responses remain reactive rather than proactive

“I’m afraid on food security I would place us as globally complacent,” Morell said.
Scientific modeling, Morell said, shows that drought, new diseases, and extreme weather events such as cyclones or typhoons will happen — even if it is impossible to pinpoint place or time.
“But if we are rational human beings, we understand that we should invest to future-proof our food systems to deal better with these eventualities,” Morell said. “Yet our political systems and current thinking is responsive — and by then it is less cost-effective and simply less effective in general to deliver food aid rather than build a more resilient system in the first place.”
The actions of governments today are still as responsive as the past. And this means that funding for research is just not adequate.
“In 2008 we had the price of major staples increase and there was an injection of funding because of that,” Morell said. “But now we have slipped back into our old ways. What appalls me is that we still have 800 million people who go to be hungry every night. We still have 151 million children suffering from stunting and hundreds of millions of people suffering from iron and nutrition deficiencies. This is right in front of us every day and it’s a global disgrace that we haven’t eliminated that.
“Around the world, there has been a trend, and the populist movement is less generous. And this means the prevention of issues down the track — and the research funding needed — are being overlooked.”

Limits of what science can achieve

“We continually have new diseases coming in,” Kropff said. Since taking on the role of director general in 2015, he has seen more than one new disease a year that has dramatically impacted crops — including a new disease in Africa that is growing fast across the continent, wiping out maize. It is one of the effects of changing environmental conditions.
In 2011 an emerging disease wiped out 20 percent of maize crop in Kenya, and it took four years to produce a resistant variety.
“Four years is too long,” Kropff said. “But 10 years ago it would have been 14. We are fast, but not fast enough. We need to deal better with predicting new diseases and have technology that is faster.”
The concern for Kropff is that with the rate of emerging diseases, there may be a time when they cannot be fast enough.
“When you start innovating, at the beginning it is easy. But there starts to get to a stage where it requires a lot more science to go to the next stage,” he said. “It’s bigger than people think.”
Reducing the impact of climate change is the better solution.

Working together for collective action

Responding to the issue of climate change in food security requires global action. Among the 15 CGIAR centers — including the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and International Rice Research Institute — there is collective action with it impacting all aspects of their work.
“It’s so important to work globally together,” Kopf said. “I’m still convinced we can do something about this. The Sustainable Development Goals are the same for all of us and there is a lot of ideas and things we do. And we have programs that go across the centers with our scientists working together. And we need to continue doing this to influence research, funding, and global policies.”

 

We need more than magic beans to help us offset the effects of climate change