Thursday, February 20, 2020

20th February ,2020 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter




Dar’s ‘leveling up’ vision: Will it work?
By
February 20, 2020
Anybody traveling through the Elliptical Road of Quezon Memorial Circle will not miss the giant tarpaulin blurb erected by the Department of Agriculture: “Ang Bagong Pananaw sa Agrikultura”. Espoused by DA Secretary William Dar, the “new thinking” in agricultural development has the following policy thrusts:  
·       Modernization must continue.
·       Industrialization of agriculture is key.
·       Promotion of exports is a necessity.
·       Consolidation of small- and medium-sized farms.
·       Infrastructure development would be critical.
·       Higher budget and investment for Philippine agriculture.
·       Legislative support is needed.
·       Roadmap development is paramount.
According to Secretary Dar, the foregoing are the Department’s 8-point response to the age-old problems facing the agriculture sector, namely: low farm productivity, lack of labor, unaffordable and inaccessible credit, limited use of technology, limited farmland diversification, undeveloped agri-manufacturing and export, severe deforestation/land degradation, aging farmers and fisherfolk, and climate change.
Through the above “new thinking”, Secretary Dar expects a “levelling up” in agricultural development, meaning arresting the continuous downward decline of the agricultural sector. Per Dar’s reckoning, the sector accounts for one-fourth of the country’s labor force and yet contributes only nine percent of the GDP. Poverty is also a countryside phenomenon given the  failure of the sector to create decent jobs and incomes for the rural masses.  Dar blames the terrible collapse of agriculture to the failure of the  average Filipino small farmer “to access low cost finance for inputs”, “limited links to the value chain and retail markets”, and “no access to better inputs and modern technologies”.
We sympathize with Secretary Dar on his advocacy of the foregoing “new-thinking” measures.  However, we hasten to add that these policy proposals are not new and certainly not enough.  Dar’s proposals had been fleshed out earlier in the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997, a law enacted by Congress to strengthen the sector’s capacity to adjust to the greater integration of the economy in the world market due to Philippine membership in the World Trade Organization in 1994-1995. The AFMA law was given huge annual billion-peso budgetary outlays in the late 1990s and in the first decade of the millennium. And yet, AFMA failed to deliver agricultural modernization and economic well-being to the rural population.
As documented by the Integrated Rural Development Foundation (see Rebuilding a Damaged Agricultural Sector, 2016), the desolation of the agricultural sector was due to the following:
·       Aimless, mindless global integration.  Unlike Fortress Europe or protectionist America (with its subsidy-focused US Farm law), the Philippines embraced agricultural liberalization/deregulation under a globalized economic order without any clear global integration strategy, without any clear adjustment and safety nets for the weak economic players such as the small farmers, and without giving ample technical/modernization and extension service  assistance to the farming population.  The Philippines simply embraced aimless liberalization (courtesy of the IMF-World Bank’s structural adjustment program of the 1980s-1990s), agricultural tariffication (commitment to the WTO) and endless programs to open up the agricultural market (via various bilateral and regional free trade agreements, e.g., ATIGA of Asean).
·       Mangled implementation of agrarian reform. The Philippine AR program is one of the longest in the world’s history.  It is supposed to be comprehensive and yet it is subverted by various legal and bureaucratic loopholes (e.g., stock options) developed by the rich and anti-reform forces. There is also no clear program to transform the AR beneficiaries into modern and progressive farmers; instead, in many places of the country, the AR beneficiaries have been transformed into poor lessors of land managed by the rich (such as the AVA system in the banana sector of Mindanao).
·       Corruption in the DA and other agriculture-related agencies under the various administrations. So much has been written about this.
·       Environmental degradation. The Secretary is correct in pointing out the gravity of this problem.
·       Policy incongruence.  There are many cases such as lack of DA-DAR and DA-DENR coordination on agricultural development.  The most urgent at present is the absence of a comprehensive and just national and local land use policy.  At present, the absence of such policy allows big city realtors and developers to convert thousands of agricultural land into cemented land, even “land banking” some of them  for speculative purposes.
In summary, a levelling-up program for the agricultural sector requires an honest-to-goodness inquiry on the root causes of the collapse of the sector. 
Secretary Dar has to confront also the pivotal issue: small farmer first or big trader/importer first? In the first year of the badly-crafted Rice Tariffication Law, which Secretary Dar opposed before his appointment because he favored a graduated approach, the Department’s role was reduced to fire-fighting.  He inveigled LGUs in rice-growing provinces to support higher prices for the palay farmers.  Eventually, President Duterte himself got into the act by providing extra funds to the NFA so that it can buy more. 
And yet, there was no positive response from the DA on the proposal of farmer organizations to stop the flood of  rice imports through the application of temporary tariff safeguards, which the WTO allows. Nor were there any positive response from DA on the demand of farmer organizations for a review/repeal of the rice tariffication law and an inquiry on who among the big rice importers/distributors are “gaming” the rice sector at the expense of the palay farmers and domestic millers and viajeros. 
Finally, Secretary Dar has been citing Singapore as an example of a food-secure country even if this city state has no agricultural land.  The implication of this statement is that food security cannot be equated to self-sufficiency or capacity of the Philippines to produce its own food requirements.  Does this mean giving up the program of building up the food production capacity of the country and embracing instead the neo-liberal proposal to focus agri development on the production of more agricultural exports and non-food high-value crops?   
On this policy issue, Secretary Dar needs to dialogue with the farmer organizations that have been painting anti-RTL slogans below his giant tarpaulins on “new thinking”. Farmer organizations such as the IRDF have been contesting the false premises of the  neo-liberals that food security is secured when a country can import all the products its money can afford. More on this in the next issue.  

Chinese tariff rate quota policy severely impacted U.S. wheat exports, study shows
·       Marianne Stein College of ACES
The U.S. and China recently agreed to a phase one trade deal that aims to resolve the current trade war between the two countries. But that is just the latest development in longstanding and complicated U.S.-Chinese trade disputes.
China has consistently used tariff rate quotas to restrict grain imports, and in 2016 the U.S. launched a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over China’s implementation of tariff rate quotas on wheat, corn and rice. In their report, issued in April 2019, WTO sided with the U.S., but did not provide an assessment of the effect on U.S. exports.
A new study from University of Illinois, published in Agricultural Economics, quantifies those effects and shows that China’s tariff quota administration significantly affected U.S. grain exports, particularly for wheat.
“Our analysis shows that if China hadn’t used trade policies to restrict trade, wheat imports from the U.S. could have been more than 80% higher in 2017. That’s a value of around $300 million,” says Bowen Chen, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at U of I. Chen is lead author on the study, which was conducted as part of his doctoral dissertation.
The dispute concerns China’s administration of tariff rate quotas (TRQ), a policy instrument intended to regulate imports. Tariff rate quotas establish two tiers of tariffs, with a lower tariff for in-quota imports and a much higher tariff for out-of-quota imports. Chinese tariffs for grain commodities were 1% for in-quota and 65% for out-of-quota imports.
The system is intended to allow some access for imports at a low tariff rate, while the second-tier tariffs provide protection for domestic commodities. Under the TRQ agreement, China is obligated to import certain quantities of grain at the low tariff level. However, the U.S. contended that these obligations were not fulfilled, and that China’s imports of corn, wheat and rice were far below in-quota quantities.
Chen and his colleagues analyzed trade and price data to assess the impact of Chinese TRQ policies on U.S. grain exports. They also sought to explore the rationale behind the grain quota administration in order to better inform policy initiatives and trade negotiations.
The researchers obtained monthly trade data for grain commodities from 2013 to 2017, using information from a United Nations database and the Ministry of Commerce in China. They also looked at domestic price data published by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. Using the trade and price data, they estimated the import demand elasticities for corn, wheat and rice.
“We estimate how the prices would have been reduced if China was not imposing the tariffs. Then we simulate how the quantities would change based on the price and elasticity,” Chen says.
Overall, the researchers concluded that China’s 2017 grain imports could have been $1.4 billion or 40% higher. Wheat imports from the U.S. could have been $324 million or 83% higher without the restrictive policies. Corn and rice imports were affected to a lesser extent.
Chen cautions that those results are contingent on Chinese domestic prices being equal to world prices, assuming that China would not maintain high prices to support domestic production.
“If China liberated their import policy and reduced domestic price support, such market policy reforms would alleviate pressure from trading partners,” Chen says. “However, they may not be interested in full trade liberalization at this time.”
Chen explains that China has used TQR as a trade policy instrument to stabilize domestic prices and restrict imports, and his research can help understand why they engage in this practice.
“These restrictions will make foreign commodities more expensive and give more incentive for domestic producers, so China can eat more domestically produced food,” he says.
“China wants to feed itself and be less dependent on other suppliers. Furthermore, China has huge grain stocks and want to use them. Finally, international prices are volatile, so for food security reasons they don’t want prices to fluctuate too much. They want to have stable food prices so people can feel safe, buying the same food with the same budget.”
Chen says the study can have implications for trade negotiators and policy makers, both in the U.S. and China, by showing the effect the TQR policy has on trade.
The new phase one trade deal stipulates that tariff rate quota administration not be used to prevent the full utilization of agricultural tariff rate quotas. The implementation of the trade deal will likely benefit U.S. grain exports to China, Chen notes.
Soybean trade is an important part of the trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, and that will be the topic for Chen’s next research project.
“We will quantify the impact on U.S. soybean exports to China, calculating how exports have been reduced by the trade war in the last year. That’s what I’m currently working on,” he says.
The paper, “Tariff quota administration in China’s grain markets: an empirical assessment,” is published in Agricultural Economics. [https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12549]
Authors are Bowen Chen, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois; and Nelson Villoria and Tian Xia, Kansas State University.


At 292 mt, country set to reap bumper harvest in 2019-20

Our Bureau  New Delhi | Updated on February 18, 2020  Published on February 18, 2020
Description: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/x60a9b/article30718159.ece/alternates/WIDE_435/bl02think2ramG3J72DB324jpgjpg

Agri Ministry’s 2nd Advance Estimates predict record rice, wheat production

India can expect a record foodgrains output this year, helping the government tame the spiralling food inflation.
According to the Second Advance Estimates of foodgrains production, released by the Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday, a record harvest of both rice and wheat should push up the country’s food output to an all-time high of 292 million tonnes (mt) in 2019-20, which is 6.7 mt more than the previous crop year’s 285.21 mt.
While the rice output is expected to be 117.47 mt (against 116.48 mt in 2018-19), that of wheat is slated to hit best-ever 106.21 mt (103.60 mt).
Description: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/7ru3ap/article30853722.ece/alternates/FREE_615/food-production-estimates-for-2019-20jpg

Oilseeds on a high

Good performance of all three major oilseeds — soyabean, mustard and groundnut — has helped raise the cumulative oilseeds output by 8.6 per cent to around 34.2 mt, from 31.52 mt in 2018-19. While the output of groundnut is expected to go up to 8.24 mt (6.73 mt in 2018-19), that of soyabean and mustard is seen at 13.62 mt (13.27 mt) and 9.26 mt (9.11 mt), respectively.

Coarse cereals

Similarly, at 45.24 mt, coarse cereals production is projected to be 5 per cent more than previous year’s 43.06 mt. While jowar output is slated to go up by nearly 1 mt to 4.38 mt, maize is set for yet another bumper year with its production set to cross 28 mt.

Pulses: Rabi crop makes up

Even though excess rains and floods during the monsoon impacted pulses production during the kharif season, the expected increase in pulses output during the rabi season, particularly that of gram, is not only estimated to make up for the loss, but increase the output to 23.02 mt, which is nearly 1 mt higher than the previous year’s crop.
The production of gram is expected to cross 11 mt as against 9.94 mt in 2018-19.

Drop in cane output

Sugarcane production, on the other hand, is expected to drop by 13 per cent to 353.8 mt against 405.4 mt in the previous year.
Cotton impresses
Among non-food crops, impressive would be the output of cotton, which is projected at 34.9 million bales (of 170 kg each), nearly 25 per cent more than last year’s 28 million bales.
Published on February 18, 2020

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Rice buffer stock good for more than three months – NFA Aklan


Description: NFA-Aklan’s rice buffer stock can last up to more than three months, according to National Food Authority-Aklan Provincial Manager Benilda Fidel.NFA-Aklan’s rice buffer stock can last up to more than three months, according to National Food Authority-Aklan Provincial Manager Benilda Fidel.
KALIBO, Aklan – The current buffer stock of palay in this province remains sufficient and is expected to last more than three months, according to National Food Authority (NFA) Aklan Provincial Manager Benilda Fidel.
She said that NFA-Aklan opted to lease an additional private-warehouse for the extra storage of unmilled rice due to the high volume of its deliveries and stocks in its warehouse in Barangay Linabuan Sur, Banga, Aklan.
NFA-Aklan has exceeded its current warehouse capacity of 70,000 bags procured from local farmers.
The food authority now has a total of 83,000 bags of palay and 3,600 bags of locally-milled rice.
The Rice trade liberation law or Republic Act No. 11203 requires the food agency to source its buffer stock from domestic farmers in order to meet the mandated buffer stock level for at least 15-30 days.
Fidel said that the buying stations are strategically located across this province to allow local farmers the ease of buying and selling of rice.
The NFA-Aklan Grains Center in the town of Banga, Farm Level Grains Center warehouse in the town of Ibajay and mobile palay procurement teams directly buy from the farmers.
“NFA is expecting influx of local farmers to sell their palay during the harvest season at a higher price compared to private rice traders,” she said.
Currently, NFA is buying clean and dry palay from local farmers at P19 per kilogram with 14-percent moisture content and 100-95 percent purity.  
The NFA local rice is sold wholesale at P25 per kilo and P27 per kilo to consumers by accredited retailers. The retail price of regular milled rice ranges from P32 to P38 per kilo, while the well milled rice is at P40 to 44 per kilo.
May imported rice but we have a minimal inventory… local rice from domestic farmers is available in the market,” Fidel stressed.
She added that government agencies like the Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Jail Management and Protection, Department of Education and the Department of Social Welfare and Development are purchase rice at a wholesale price.(With a report from Akean Forum/PN)

Rice Prices

as on : 14-02-2020 11:10:42 AM

Arrivals in tonnes;prices in Rs/quintal in domestic market.
Arrivals
Price
Current
%
change
Season
cumulative
Modal
Prev.
Modal
Prev.Yr
%change
Rice
Puranpur(UP)
30.00
-14.29
1541.00
2540
2570
6.72
Sehjanwa(UP)
25.00
11.11
1452.50
2530
2440
17.13
Jambusar(Kaavi)(Guj)
1.00
NC
41.00
3200
3000
10.34
Published on February 14, 2020
TOPICS

S. Korea to send 950 tons of rice to Philippines in humanitarian aid

All Headlines 11:00 February 19, 2020
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SEJONG, Feb. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Wednesday it will send 950 tons of rice as emergency aid for the victims of natural disasters in the Philippines.
The rice will depart from the southern port city of Busan on Thursday and arrive in different regions in the Philippines from end-February to early March, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs.
The shipped rice will be distributed to some 235,000 residents in the Southeast Asian country who suffered from earthquakes and typhoons last year.
The rice will be delivered under the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR), which is operated by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as South Korea, China and Japan.
Since 2017, South Korea has donated a combined 14,050 tons of rice to Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
South Korea's participation in the agreement is also part of the country's schemes to deal with a chronic oversupply of rice in the country stemming from a sharp drop in rice consumption.

The physics behind tossing fried rice

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

Description: The physics behind tossing fried rice
Fried rice is a 1500-year-old dish that is prepared using wok tossing, a technique that enables food to undergo temperatures of 1200°C without burning. Tossing of the heavy wok at high speed may be one contributor to shoulder pain, which is reported by 64.5% of Chinese restaurant chefs.
Be that as it may, what is the physics included, and is it the reason for shoulder pain in chefs?
To find out, a pair of scientists, including Hungtang Ko and David Hu from Georgia Institute of Technology, used high-speed cameras to capture the action at several Chinese restaurants in China and Taiwan. They even have disentangled the physics behind the ideal method to toss fried rice while it is cooking.
Scientists observed the video in slow motion. They found that all chefs use the same tossing patterns. Also, the chefs very rarely lifted the woks off the stove—instead, tossing was achieved by pivoting the pans on parts of the stove.
Description: Figure 1. Kinematics of tossing fried rice. (a) Wok tossing at the Chin Chin restaurant in Atlanta, GA, USA. Photo credit: Candler Hobbs. (b–e) Image sequence showing the wok tossing process. The coloured points show several points tracked in the video. Note that the left rim travels in a clockwise circle and the right rim in a counterclockwise circle. Both trajectories are marked in blue while the trajectory of the wok centre is marked in red. Our two-link pendulum model is overlaid on top of the image sequence to show the evolution of the model variables θ1 and θ2.Figure 1. Kinematics of tossing fried rice. (a) Wok tossing at the Chin Chin restaurant in Atlanta, GA, USA. Photo credit: Candler Hobbs. (b–e) Image sequence showing the wok tossing process. The coloured points show several points tracked in the video. Note that the left rim travels in a clockwise circle and the right rim in a counterclockwise circle. Both trajectories are marked in blue while the trajectory of the wok centre is marked in red. Our two-link pendulum model is overlaid on top of the image sequence to show the evolution of the model variables θ1 and θ2.
The woks were made to emulate pendulums utilizing a point on the bottom of the pan as one support and a contact point between another part of the wok and the stove as the other. This allowed the chef to move the wok back and forth, even as they maintain a see-saw motion.
The video also showed that the technique used by the chefs required a degree of skill to heft the rice into the air at just the right height and to keep it from spilling out of the pan. It also showed that, on average, the chefs tossed the rice in their woks 2.7 times per second.
Scientists noted, “It was not just the tossing that accounted for the special taste of fried rice—other factors such as ingredients and sauce preparation played a role, as well.”
“The constant tossing of the rice in the wok likely led to shoulder pain in 64.5 percent of chefs they spoke with. The simulations of the process indicate that a robot could very likely perform the whole process.”
The paper describing the study is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Genetically modified, insect-resistant Bt crops do not have harmful effects on beneficial bugs in farmers’ fields, two new scientific papers published this week have shown.
These add to the environmental case for GM technology, because by controlling crop pests in a very targeted way using insecticidal proteins (Bt) expressed in plant tissues, farmers can reduce broad-spectrum insecticide sprays and thus protect wider farm-scale biodiversity.
In the first paper, an international team led by Chinese scientists reported that after conducting field experiments lasting several years, they found no significant differences in the spider communities populating Bt rice fields as compared to a non-Bt control rice crop.
On the other hand, as expected, when both types of fields were treated with chemical insecticide sprays, populations of spiders were significantly reduced. Spiders play an important role in controlling agricultural pests.
The scientists write in Plant Biotechnology Journal: “These results suggest that Bt rice has no long term impacts on the structure of the spider community, whilst chemical insecticides exhibit negative impacts.”
The second paper looked at the potential impact of Bt maize in Brazil on a tiny parasitic wasp called Trichogramma pretiosum. This insect occurs naturally in the country, and because it feeds on the eggs of fall armyworm moths and other agricultural pests it is highly valued as a biocontrol agent by farmers.
If the insecticidal proteins expressed inside Bt maize crops — which have proven extremely effective in targeting lepidopteran pests — were also harming beneficial insects like T. pretiosum, that would be a serious concern for farmers and ecologists alike.
Fortunately, that appears not to be the case. As reported by Brazilian scientists in the journal Biocontrol Science and Technology: “All Bt hybrids [of maize] evaluated were harmless to T. pretiosum.”
The authors add: “All the Bt proteins evaluated in this study target lepidopterans specifically, and do not have deleterious effects on T. pretiosum, even when extreme exposures produced under laboratory conditions have been tested.”
The findings of both papers are important because they strengthen the case for the use of Bt crops in integrated pest management (IPM) farming approaches. One of the techniques of IPM is to nurture populations of natural enemies of insect pests — such as lacewings, wasps, ladybugs and spiders — to reduce the necessity for chemical sprays.
These studies, which add to a widespread consensus that Bt crops do not harm non-target organisms, mean that Bt crops can be used as part of a broad array of IPM techniques. This is important also to try to forestall the evolution of resistance to Bt proteins among the pest species.
One recent review paper concluded: “In summary, the available body of literature provides evidence that insecticidal proteins used in commercialized Bt crops cause no direct, adverse effects on non-target species outside the order (i.e., Lepidoptera for Cry1 and Cry2 proteins) or the family (i.e. Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae for Cry3 proteins) of the target pest(s).”
Good news for spiders and wasps is also good news for farmers and the environment, it seems.

Stopping prednisone can be challenging

Feb. 19, 2020 at 6:00 am
Syndicated columnists
Q: Why haven’t you recommended elderberry extract against the flu? As I understand it, tests have proven it to be better than Tamiflu.
I never get flu shots, even though almost everyone else in my retirement community gets them. Several still catch the flu.
At the first sign of a throat tickle, I start taking elderberry extract. I haven’t had even a sniffle.
A: There is some evidence suggesting that elderberry has antiviral activity. One meta-analysis found that elderberry supplements (Sambucus nigra) can reduce upper respiratory symptoms such as congestion and cough (Complementary Therapies in Medicine, February 2019). Scientists have also found that a compound in elderberry, cyanidin 3-glucoside, acts in several ways to inhibit influenza infection (Journal of Functional Foods, March 2019).
Q: I add sliced ginger to my coffee. It helps my arthritis and lowers my blood pressure as well. Can you tell us all about its many health benefits?
A: Not everyone would appreciate the flavor of ginger in coffee, although many people like it in tea. Ginger has been used for centuries to ease nausea, heartburn and other digestive difficulties.
In animal studies, ginger has shown cardiovascular benefits (Natural Product Research, September 2018). It also can lower blood pressure and improve insulin sensitivity. Ginger has long been a favorite cough remedy and has been used experimentally to prevent migraines.
Q: Late in 2016, I began taking red yeast rice to lower my total cholesterol and LDL. My glucose level in March 2017 was 118. My doctor recommended nutritional counseling for a “prediabetic condition.”
When I told the counselor I was taking red yeast rice, she told me to stop taking it, as it can raise blood glucose levels. I did so, and the following year my blood glucose was 105. This year it was 95. Does red yeast rice raise blood sugar just like a statin drug?
I am a healthy 63-year-old who exercises daily. I have no history of heart disease or stroke and a 4% lifetime risk of heart attack according to the ACC/AHA calculator. I would rather have high cholesterol than become a Type 2 diabetic with all its attendant risks.
A: Red yeast rice does contain statin compounds, and it therefore can produce some statin-type side effects. The best study we found to answer your question was conducted recently in Taiwan, where red yeast rice is a popular prescription remedy (Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapies, Jan. 9, 2020).
The researchers compared 34,000 people prescribed RYR to 34,000 prescribed lovastatin. None of these people had diabetes to start with. Those taking lovastatin were more than twice as likely as those on RYR to develop diabetes over the next five years.
In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of King Features, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email them via their website: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is “Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them.”

Unraveling the physics behind tossing fried rice

FEBRUARY 19, 2020 REPORT

 

Description: Unraveling the physics behind tossing fried riceKinematics of tossing fried rice. (a) Wok tossing at the Chin Chin restaurant in Atlanta, GA, USA. Photo credit: Candler Hobbs. (b–e) Image sequence showing the wok tossing process. The coloured points show several points tracked in the video. Note that the left rim travels in a clockwise circle and the right rim in a counterclockwise circle. Both trajectories are marked in blue while the trajectory of the wok centre is marked in red. Our two-link pendulum model is overlaid on top of the image sequence to show the evolution of the model variables θ1 and θ2. Credit: Journal of The Royal Society Interface (2020). DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2019.0622
A pair of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology has unraveled the physics behind the optimal way to toss fried rice while it is cooking. In their paper published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, Hungtang Ko and David Hu describe filming chefs in Chinese restaurants cooking fried rice and what they learned about the physics involved.
In Chinese restaurants, chefs use their woks to toss fried rice as it cooks. As part of their training, they are taught to toss the rice in a certain way—this allows for cooking at very high temperatures without caramelizing and burning. But what are the physics involved, and is it the cause of shoulder pain in chefs? To find out, the researchers received permission to use high-speed cameras to capture the action at several Chinese restaurants in China and Taiwan.
In slowing down the video, the researchers observed that all of the chefs used nearly identical tossing patterns. They found that the chefs very rarely lifted the woks off the stove—instead, tossing was achieved by pivoting the pans on parts of the stove. The woks were made to mimic pendulums using a point on the bottom of the pan as one fulcrum and a contact point between another part of the wok and the stove as the other. This allowed the chef to move the wok back and forth, even as they maintained a see-saw motion. The video also showed that the technique used by the chefs required a degree of skill to heft the rice into the air at just the right height, and to keep it from spilling out of the pan. It also showed that on average, the chefs tossed the rice in their woks 2.7 times per second.
The researchers also noted that it was not just the tossing that accounted for the special taste of fried rice—other factors such as ingredients and sauce preparation played a role, as well. They conclude that the constant tossing of the rice in the wok likely led to shoulder pain in 64.5 percent of chefs they spoke with. They note that simulations of the process indicate that the whole process could very likely be performed by a robot.

Chinese tariff rate quota policy severely impacted U.S. wheat exports, study shows


The U.S. and China recently agreed to a phase one trade deal that aims to resolve the current trade war between the two countries. But that is just the latest development in longstanding and complicated U.S.-Chinese trade disputes.
China has consistently used tariff rate quotas to restrict grain imports, and in 2016 the U.S. launched a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over China’s implementation of tariff rate quotas on wheat, corn and rice. In their report, issued in April 2019, WTO sided with the U.S., but did not provide an assessment of the effect on U.S. exports.
A new study from University of Illinois, published in Agricultural Economics, quantifies those effects and shows that China’s tariff quota administration significantly affected U.S. grain exports, particularly for wheat.
“Our analysis shows that if China hadn’t used trade policies to restrict trade, wheat imports from the U.S. could have been more than 80% higher in 2017. That’s a value of around $300 million,” says Bowen Chen, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at U of I. Chen is lead author on the study, which was conducted as part of his doctoral dissertation.
The dispute concerns China’s administration of tariff rate quotas (TRQ), a policy instrument intended to regulate imports. Tariff rate quotas establish two tiers of tariffs, with a lower tariff for in-quota imports and a much higher tariff for out-of-quota imports. Chinese tariffs for grain commodities were 1% for in-quota and 65% for out-of-quota imports.
The system is intended to allow some access for imports at a low tariff rate, while the second-tier tariffs provide protection for domestic commodities. Under the TRQ agreement, China is obligated to import certain quantities of grain at the low tariff level. However, the U.S. contended that these obligations were not fulfilled, and that China’s imports of corn, wheat and rice were far below in-quota quantities.
Chen and his colleagues analyzed trade and price data to assess the impact of Chinese TRQ policies on U.S. grain exports. They also sought to explore the rationale behind the grain quota administration in order to better inform policy initiatives and trade negotiations.
The researchers obtained monthly trade data for grain commodities from 2013 to 2017, using information from a United Nations database and the Ministry of Commerce in China. They also looked at domestic price data published by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. Using the trade and price data, they estimated the import demand elasticities for corn, wheat and rice.
“We estimate how the prices would have been reduced if China was not imposing the tariffs. Then we simulate how the quantities would change based on the price and elasticity,” Chen says.
Overall, the researchers concluded that China’s 2017 grain imports could have been $1.4 billion or 40% higher. Wheat imports from the U.S. could have been $324 million or 83% higher without the restrictive policies. Corn and rice imports were affected to a lesser extent.
Chen cautions that those results are contingent on Chinese domestic prices being equal to world prices, assuming that China would not maintain high prices to support domestic production.
“If China liberated their import policy and reduced domestic price support, such market policy reforms would alleviate pressure from trading partners,” Chen says. “However, they may not be interested in full trade liberalization at this time.”
Chen explains that China has used TQR as a trade policy instrument to stabilize domestic prices and restrict imports, and his research can help understand why they engage in this practice.
“These restrictions will make foreign commodities more expensive and give more incentive for domestic producers, so China can eat more domestically produced food,” he says.
“China wants to feed itself and be less dependent on other suppliers. Furthermore, China has huge grain stocks and want to use them. Finally, international prices are volatile, so for food security reasons they don’t want prices to fluctuate too much. They want to have stable food prices so people can feel safe, buying the same food with the same budget.”
Chen says the study can have implications for trade negotiators and policy makers, both in the U.S. and China, by showing the effect the TQR policy has on trade.
The new phase one trade deal stipulates that tariff rate quota administration not be used to prevent the full utilization of agricultural tariff rate quotas. The implementation of the trade deal will likely benefit U.S. grain exports to China, Chen notes.
Soybean trade is an important part of the trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, and that will be the topic for Chen’s next research project.
“We will quantify the impact on U.S. soybean exports to China, calculating how exports have been reduced by the trade war in the last year. That’s what I’m currently working on,” he says.
The paper, “Tariff quota administration in China’s grain markets: an empirical assessment,” is published in Agricultural Economics. [https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12549]
Authors are Bowen Chen, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois; and Nelson Villoria and Tian Xia, Kansas State University.

Researchers develop portable test to detect deadly mushrooms

Edible or toxic? That is the question.


February 19, 2020 10:45 AM PST
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Some toxic mushrooms look a lot like some edible mushrooms.
Candace Bever, ARS-USDA
Springtime amanita mushrooms are delicious, but they look a lot like toxic death cap mushrooms. For foragers, knowing the difference is critical. It's also key for doctors working to diagnose patients with mushroom poisoning. 
Researchers with the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have developed a portable test that can detect trace amounts of amanitin, the class of toxin found in some of the world's most deadly mushrooms.
The test can work on a mushroom sample the size of a grain of rice, or it can be used to detect the toxin in human or dog urine. "We developed the test primarily for mushrooms as food products. Serendipitously, it was sensitive enough to also detect the toxin in urine," said ARS microbiologist Candace Bever in a USDA release on Wednesday. It take about 10 minutes for the test to return a result.
Consuming toxic mushrooms leads to over 100 deaths a year globally, according to the USDA. Thousands more are sickened and require medical care. Mushroom poisoning can lead to severe gastrointestinal issues and liver and kidney damage.
"Our hope is that doctors and veterinarians will be able to quickly and confidently identify amatoxin poisoning rather than having to clinically eliminate other suspected gastrointestinal diseases first," said Bever.
The test is not currently available for recreational mushroom hunters, but the USDA said it could be "a practical and definitive way for mushroom foragers to identify and avoid eating mushrooms with amanitin toxin if a commercial partner can be found to produce and market a test kit."
The ARS team published a paper on the test in the journal Toxins this month. 
The USDA cautions that the test will only identify the presence or absence of the toxin. It can't detect hallucinogens or determine if a mushroom is edible. Even if it arrives on the market as a test kit, foragers will still need to know their mushrooms.


Odisha Assembly Speaker asks minister to fix paddy procurement woes


Bhubaneswar: Speaker S N Patro Wednesday directed Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain to convene a meeting of the district officials and MLAs to resolve the problems of paddy procurement.
The Speaker gave the direction after members cutting across party lines, expressed serious concern during the Question Hour and Zero Hour about the problems faced by the farmers in selling their paddy due to the introduction of token system for paddy procurement.
The members alleged that huge quantity paddy was lying in mandis and it is not being lifted. In the name of FAQ, the paddy procuring agencies were deducting 5 to 6 kg of paddy for each quintal, they said.
Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra said the paddy is being deducted even though there is no machine to test quality of FAQ paddy and the farmers were forced to sell their paddy in distress.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Bhupinder Singh (BJD) said all farmers have not been issued token and only 40 quintals of paddy were procured from the farmers who were issued token.
He further said a farmer is not given a token after the sale of 40 quintals of paddy.
Singh also alleged that procurement of paddy is not being made till the millers and their agents reached the mandi.
Jay Narayan Mishra (BJP) suggested a meeting of the MLAs and the district Collector be convened in each paddy procuring district to sort out the problems.
Kishore Mohanty (BJD) said the farmers were facing problems as the paddy procuring agencies were not procuring paddy from farmers of non-revenue villages.
Leader of Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik said, “The government should take steps to buy all the surplus paddy from the farmers.”
Earlier, the issue was raised by Mukesh Mahalinga, (BJP), Nrusingha Sahu and Prasant Kumar Jagdev (BJD) during the Question Hour.
The members said the procurement season will be over within a month but huge quantity of paddy is yet to be procured. The government, they said, should take steps to procure paddy from the farmers.
The minister, in his reply, said more paddy was procured this time due to the introduction of token system.
He said till February 13, 43.39 lakh tonne of paddy was purchased from registered farmers against the target of 50 lakh tonne during the Kharif season 2019-20.
Since one more month is there, the government would initiate steps to buy the paddy from the farmers, he assured the House and said “the token system was introduced to keep the agents away and buy paddy directly from the farmers.”
The minister denied distress sale of paddy as alleged by the members and promised to take action against the officials if they were found not purchasing paddy from the registered farmers.
Saluja hurls corruption charge
Bhubaneswar: Members of the Congress party Wednesday raked up the issue of corruption and flouting of prescribed guidelines in the paddy procurement process in the state during the Question Hour of the Assembly.
Kantabanji MLA Santosh Singh Saluja (Congress) told the House that rice mill operators are rampantly flouting norms in paddy procurement process. He also alleged that wrongdoings in the process are undertaken with the patronage of top officials of the state government.
“I can name the top officials involved in this corrupt practices and the aggrieved farmers. The guidelines claim that the millers can get access to the paddy only after procurement but they have intruded into the process since the beginning while the farmers are distressed,” Saluja told the House.
The leader also accused that the mill owners of bribing government officials to manipulate the data of farmers and reject a portion of their produce to ensure their interference in the process. He also asked would the 5T department come into picture in this corrupt practice existing in the state.
Reacting to the allegation, FS&CW Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain said no such reported practice would be allowed. “We will not tolerate any corrupt practice. We are strictly against any such non-sense behaviour.”

Quikgro develops potato varieties suited to sub-Saharan conditions

Scientists from the James Hutton Institute -in collaboration with the University of St Andrews- are supporting an innovative research project aiming to develop potato varieties suited to the agronomic and environmental conditions of the Sub-Saharan region.
Typically, in sub-Saharan Africa potatoes are grown in the cooler, highland areas. The aim of this project is to expand the area under production by developing varieties able to grow in warmer conditions found at lower altitudes.
Building on the outcomes of several research projects, potato scientists aim to combine stress tolerance with the development of early maturing varieties, which would be able to reach full maturity in 60-70 days instead of over 100 days for most commercial varieties.
Researchers hope Quikgro potatoes will produce tubers that bulk quickly in warmer environments, mitigating the effect of short rainy seasons and droughts, with enhanced disease resistance and a better rotation fit with other crops such as rice and wheat.
Description: https://agfstorage.blob.core.windows.net/misc/FP_com/2020/02/19/Quick.jpg
Project leader Professor Lesley Torrance said: “We are very pleased to receive funding to continue working with colleagues in Malawi and Kenya to develop potatoes that are more resilient to the growing conditions in sub-Saharan Africa. Potato is an important food and cash crop in the region and increased production will contribute to economic growth and prosperity along the whole potato supply chain.”
Hutton.ac.uk reported how the Quikgro initiative is a collaboration between the University of St Andrews, James Hutton Institute, the International Potato Center (CIP), Malawi’s Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS) and Kenya’s Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST). It is funded by a Global Challenges Research Fund Foundation award from Research Councils UK (RCUK).


Publication date: Wed 19 Feb 2020


At Buffalo Tikka House, enjoying well-calibrated heat and exotic treats


The Chicken 65, sautéed with chile leaves and sauce at Buffalo Tikka House. (Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)
By Andrew Z. Galarneau
Published February 19, 2020|
“Buffalo Tikka House,” my friend said. “What is that, a Polynesian bar?”
That’s the way it goes in the restaurant business. You can leave your home country to make a better life for your family. Start as a busboy, clearing dirty dishes at Jean-Georges in Trump Tower for customers including Donald Trump.
Use that money to move to Buffalo and drive a taxi for 10 years, saving to open a restaurant. Then keep it alive while the street out front is shut down for the first four months of your existence – only to have people driving by believe you specialize in the sort of rum cocktails that come with umbrellas.
Which Buffalo Tikka House absolutely does not. This Bangladeshi Indian restaurant is halal, following Islamic dietary guidelines, which precludes alcohol. “I only wish to give you healthy things,” said owner Loni Ahmed.
Perhaps the vindaloo has restorative power. Arriving fatigued, I left through the winter streets with a spring in my step. Part of it was the fine company. The rest was my joy that downtown Buffalo has a real Indian restaurant again.
The place is cozy, with about 20 seats in an angled space that was last the A Street Meatball Market. It’s in the shadow of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, a half block to the east, which explained why I saw so many lanyards on customers. Ahmed seems unflappable amid a steady stream of walk-ins, takeout orders and kitchen trips.
Among appetizers, Chicken 65 ($6.99) was a tidy little helping of dark meat chicken sent halfway to chile-glazed chicken popcorn, crispy-edged and sticky, faintly redolent of the breath of the wok.
Description: buffalo-tikka-house-KIRKHAM-indian-food-2020-nan
Bullet naan at Buffalo Tikka House. (Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)
Samosas (two for $4.99) were solid examples of the potato-stuffed fried turnover. Pakoras ($3.99), crunchy little hedgehogs of matchsticked vegetables in chickpea batter and spices, were eminently snackable.
Samosa chaat ($5.99) was a tasty combination of potatoes, chickpeas, tamarind sauce, mint chutney and yogurt over a crumbled samosa – sweet, sour, dairy, herbal and vegetable flavors, but I missed the lighter, crunchier aspects of other versions I’ve enjoyed.
Tikka are chunks, cooked in the oven or grilled, as opposed to seekh, which are seasoned ground meat, burger kebabs. We ordered samples of both, and flipped through the menu trying to discern how Bangladeshi diverged from Indian.
Tandoori chicken, bone-in fowl tenderized with a long soak in spiced yogurt, is ubiquitous. Here ($11.99), it emerged on a conspicuously silent sizzle platter. Still warm, though, and tossed in a semisweet tomato sauce braced with vinegar – Bangladeshi ketchup – along with the usual onions and bell peppers.
Description: buffalo-tikka-house-KIRKHAM-indian-food-2020-tandoori
Tandoori chicken, marinated in yogurt and spices at Buffalo Tikka House. (Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)
Chicken seekh kebab ($12.99), sausages cooked in the tandoor on a spindle, got the same treatment, encouraging diners to spoon it out over fluffy basmati rice.
Lamb Naga ($13.99) was “really hot,” the menu warned. After an extended heat level colloquy with Ahmed, including repeated assurances that we wanted it his way, he smiled, shook his head and suggested medium.
What arrived was a dish that played expertly with the use of chile as a taste stimulator. Pickled chiles, green bell pepper, mustard seed, potato and spoon-tender lamb combined for a heady dish that made my mouth water, not my forehead. Instead of clobbering the palate, it heated and changed it like iron in the forge. Its smoldering incandescence has returned to mind several times since.
Another racy favorite was the lamb vindaloo ($13.99), representing some of the breadth of the Indian palette. Sour with vinegar, it’s a descendant of the vinha d’alhos (wine with garlic) dishes Portuguese traders brought to the subcontinent.
Bhindi baji ($9.99), sautéed okra was surprisingly ungreasy. Even better, it avoided okra’s tendency to become slimy as alien spit.
Achari chicken ($12.99), stewed with intense Indian pickle, was zippy with preserved green mango, chile and a galaxy of spices.
Fish korma ($12.99) was fried filets braised in aromatic coconut cream. Shrimp dhansak ($13.99) was pinky-sized crustaceans in a lentil sweet-and-sour gravy. Both were emphatically sweet, like milk after all the Frosted Flakes are gone. If seafood desserts become a craving, I know where to start.
Notable among the made-to-order breads was bullet naan ($3.99), named for the impact of finely chopped fresh jalapeño embedded in the dough, its more acrid notes tamed by the heat. Paratha ($3.99) is a pliable layered bread made of whole wheat and butter, to be torn and used to mop up gravy.
Sometimes this is going to be a one-man show out front. So if you are in a hurry, call ahead for your food. If you don’t mind waiting, help yourself to glasses from the counter, a pitcher of water from the cooler, and settle in for solid Indian food in downtown Buffalo.
The only problem is that the table can get so crowded you might not have a place to put that last platter of bread fresh out of the tandoor, studded with fiery green chile and glistening with butter. It’s a naan

in search of new varieties of rice as climate change threatens crops

Rice is one of the most important cereal crops in the world and makes up an important part of the human diet. Rice production in Europe, which currently accounts for two-thirds of the rice consumed on the continent, is being threatened by the effects of climate change, while most varieties are severely damaged by salinisation and giant snails.
Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the most salt sensitive crops, and river deltas, where rice is grown in Europe, are becoming saltier due to rising temperatures, rising sea levels and water scarcity. Researchers from the EU, Argentina and China are developing salt-tolerant rice to protect this important crop not only from the effects of climate change, but also from the apple snail pest. The apple snail represents one of the worst crop pests of the recent times. It is calculated that the snails currently cause damage in rice fields worldwide equivalent to the loss of tens of billions of Euros each year.
For years, the measures adopted to combat the apple snail and stop its spread had failed, but in autumn of 2013, the Autonomous Government of Catalonia explored a new strategy with agreement of the European Union: flooding fields with seawater. This proved to be one of the few strategies which managed to curb the presence of the snail, which does not tolerate high salinity levels, but the residual salinity caused a loss of productivity of about 30% in some fields.
The NEURICE project is being funded by Horizon 2020, the biggest EU research and innovation programme, with € 4.608.000, in order to bring together experts from diverse fields such as biotechnology, farming and agriculture development, and salinity monitoring systems who would try to address this challenge through international collaborative research.
Scientists are using traditional breeding methods, crossing European with Asian rice lines. In Asia, there are some tropical varieties of rice which are highly tolerant to salinity, but which cannot be grown in the Mediterranean climate. It has recently been discovered that the salinity tolerance of these tropical Asian varieties is due to the presence of a chromosome segment called Saltol. Traditional, non-transgenic improvement techniques are being used to incorporate this feature into the commercial European varieties. The final plant is mainly European, but contains a small part of the Asiatic salt-tolerant genome.
The project results have been better than expected. “We have yet seen that most of the varieties obtained in the NEURICE project behave better than the original local varieties in salinity conditions. But surprisingly, some of the varieties behave also better than local ones in non-salinised fields, although we have to wait for the results of this second year to confirm this observed trend”, says the project coordinator and professor of Plant Physiology at the Universidad de Barcelona (UB), Salvador Nogués.

Agri engineer cited for excellence
February 20, 2020 
An engineer from the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech) received an award from The Manila Water Foundation for his inventions at the Manila Water Foundation for Engineering Excellence (The Prize) Awarding Ceremony held last February 3 at Seda Hotel Vertis North in Quezon City.
Description: https://www.manilatimes.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/3-PHOTO.jpgMichael Gragasin from the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech), an awardee of the Manila Water Foundation for Engineering Excellence. PHOTO FROM MICHAEL GRAGASIN FACEBOOK PAGE
In partnership with the Department of Science and Technology and the Philippine Technological Council, Michael Gragasin of PHilMech was awarded for his ingenuity and expertise as a science research specialist, along with three Filipino engineers.
Gragasin designed and led the development of the compact corn mill and the impeller rice mill for white and brown rice to help low-income farmers milling their own crops and earn more profit.
Through his inventions, farmers can process their own crops and not depend on commercial millers. The said machines can now increase rice farmers’ income from P5 per kilo to around P14 to P25 per kilo. Production costs for corn and rice, which are staple food in the country, are also maintained at a low cost, making the grains more affordable for Filipino consumers.
Using the principles of agricultural engineering, the compact corn mill and impeller rice mill also help address the food security needs of the country.
The Prize conducts a nationwide search for Filipino engineers who manifest excellent engineering and scientific competence to honor and help them promote their technologies.
It is the only recognizing body in the Philippines that honors engineers who have made notable contributions in solving development problems in the areas of water, sanitation, environment and sustainability.
THE TIMES

31 Silos to Be Built in Punjab Soon: Raosaheb Patil Danve

19 February, 2020 5:44 PM IST By: Abha Toppo
Raosaheb Patil Danve, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said that so as to prevent the wastage of foodgrains in traditional storage system, Centre has decided to construct thirty one silos in Northern state of Punjab for proper scientific storage of foodgrains. The minister was at Sangrur to examine the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns and evaluate the public distribution system of foodgrains.
Danve said that the procedure for the identification of suitable sites has been started and very soon construction of new silos will begin. The minister added that silo structures follows a scientific process of storing grains where the stored grain is kept dry & aired in order to prevent fungal as well as insect attacks for a longer period of time as compared to traditional methods.
Danve also informed that soon the "one nation, one ration card' policy would be implemented in all states of India as twelve states have already been divided into clusters. He said under this scheme, the beneficiaries of the public distribution will get their share of rations in any state wherein they will be residing. The minister told that leaders of the labour, rice millers & some other unions have highlighted some issues that would also be addressed on priority.

Farmers for a Sustainable Future 

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, USA Rice joined with 21 trade groups representing millions of farmers and ranchers on Capitol Hill to launch Farmers for a Sustainable Future (FSF), a coalition committed to environmental and economic sustainability. Members of the coalition discussed the FSF's purpose and principles before an audience of policy makers and media.

The mission of this groundbreaking coalition is to share with elected officials, the media, and the public U.S. agriculture's commitment to sustainability and the great effort that has already been made to reduce agriculture's environmental footprint. FSF will serve as a primary resource for lawmakers as they consider climate-related policies, and provide its guiding principles as a foundation to further advance the adoption of conservation programs.

Ben Mosely, vice president of government affairs at USA Rice, spoke at the event about the rice industry's many accomplishments in sustainability and conservation, as well as the importance of sustainability in agriculture: "All in all, the U.S. rice industry is invested in sustainability because it is personal. Rice farmers live on the land they work, and rice mills are an important economic driver in their communities."

FSF supports science-based research, voluntary incentive-based conservation programs, investment in infrastructure, and solutions that support rural communities while ensuring a healthy environment. The coalition recognizes what the rice industry has long known: that U.S. farmers and ranchers are stewards of the land who are committed to soil health, water conservation, air quality, and wildlife.

USA Rice's participation in the coalition is a natural fit, as rice farmers have made great strides in sustainability and conservation over the last several decades and continue to achieve higher standards with every harvest, as is laid out in last year's U.S. Rice Industry Sustainability Report. Joining with other industry leaders in the FSF will help rice tell its sustainability story, educate the public, and have a voice in agricultural policies.

"This is an opportunity to tell the great success story of American agriculture's sustainability efforts," said Arkansas ice farmer Jennifer James, who is chair of the USA Rice Sustainability Committee. "Sustainability is the future of agriculture, and farmers and ranchers are at the forefront of the movement, putting science, technology, and innovation to work on the land. FSF will be an invaluable resource for policymakers and the public alike, and USA Rice is honored to join the group."