UK’s first rice crop ripe for picking after hot summer

In the ordinary region, in a quiet part of East England, a unique experiment was rooted.

“When I tell people what I am doing here, they think that I am joking,” says Nadine Mitzchunas, the first and only rice production of Great Britain.

Threats in four small rice fields succeed in going in our hottest summer.

“We could never think out that it would grow here,” says farmer Sarah Taylor, whose earth is planted in rice. “Not in a million years,” her husband Craig adds.

This young crop is part of an ambitious test to see that Foods Briting can grow in the future.

The test is trying to answer big questions about how we can produce a sufficient number of food products and protect the livelihoods of farmers in the world, changed by climate change.

Bi -Bi -y Praining to rice plants before harvesting.

Rice plants are very similar to thick grass. But running along the stems, there are small beads – these are rice grains. They were still brown when we visited, but will be chosen when they become white.

Nadine, a rewards of an ecologist, is incredibly proud.

“I am actually amazed because they are large, happy, thick plants,” she says, warning me not to fall when we enter the water in the water.

She points to her favorites. “This is Etrell from Columbia, the best,” she says. “But I am the least impressed with this,” she says, pointing to Japanese rice that did not bloom.

This experiment is the brainchild of the British Center for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH), in partnership with Craig and Sarah Taylor.

Dozens of plants were planted in four mini -rice fields, dug and flooded on the Taylors farm a few miles north of Eli in Cambridgeshire.

We often think about rice as a tropical plant, but it grow in a colder climate.

Nine varieties are growing, including from Brazil, Colombia, Italy and the Philippines. They include the stars of the world of rice – risotto, basmati and sushi.

Plants succeeded in a hot sunny summer, which, according to the Office, was the hottest in the UK since the records began in 1884.

“No one has tried it before, but with a climate change, we have a crop that 10 years ago we would not have thought that in 10 years Rice could become a completely perfect culture for us,” says Nadine.

According to Professor Richard Pivevel, who heads the project for UKCEH, this is the very edge where rice can grow, and for farmers it would be risky for farmers.

But the British climate is changing quickly. If the average annual temperatures are heated by 2 to 4C compared to pre -industrial levels – a scenario that, as many scientists say, probably – this is probably – is – it is – According to the study, rice can be widely grown in the UK.

But this project is not only a growing British rice for our dining plates. It can also help Great Britain cope with climate change.

The Earth in Fens is one of the most productive in the UK. A third of the vegetables grown in the UK comes from here, which is about 1.2 billion pounds per year. But this has a significant cost for the environment and climate.

The farms are on rich peat, which used to be under water, but now it is slowly drying. This produces carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. In the national level, peats make up 3% of our greenhouse gas emissions.

It also humiliates the quality of the soil, a change in real time, such as Craig and Sarah. They feel deeply connected with the Earth and its history.

“All my ancestors were Fenmane. I like this place, we have been here for more than 500 years, ”says Craig.

The rice field is surrounded by potato, onions and beets, which are still prosperous products here.

Digging a healthy potato scandal of rich black soil, Craig says: “Potatoes are an amazing crop. You cannot knock it down, but we know that things should change. ”

“We do not want people to think that we are“ crazy farmers of rice ”is to rethink the entire system and force it to work for everyone,” he says.

Unpredictable weather conditions in recent years have struck farmers at the national level, which in some cases affects crop and yield.

“We see that the future is not stable. We want to be able to write our own fate and not have his solution for us, ”says Sarah.

“Our heritage is for our children and, I hope, their children are really important to us, and I want them to know that we are at least trying to change the situation,” she says.

In addition to rice, the team will experience other cultures, including salad and hybrid willow, which grow in caring conditions.

Smiling peat in some parts of Cambridgeshire, greenhouse gases can remain locked in moist soil, cutting off this source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite the fact that the growing rice produces metatan, which is a powerful greenhouse gas, the initial test results yet suggest that the rice harvest does not produce more emissions than helps to block.

The government is interested in what is happening here, and officials of the Department for Environmental Protection and Rural in Affairs visited this site.

This can be a radical breakthrough in one of the most striking issues in the UK – how to protect agriculture and food supplies, as well as solve the enormous consequences that they have on the environment and climate.

The British food system, including imports, is equivalent to 38% of the emissions of greenhouse gases of Great Britain, and agriculture is 11.7%.

Rice growing on peat will not correct this overnight, but it can provide a model.

“We are in a critical stage in climate change, and we need to make decisions. We need to understand what crops we could potentially grow in the future, ”explains Richard from Ukceh.

“It is possible that in certain areas, rethinking peat and growing rice can be a viable option. In other areas, we can continue to grow our usual cultures, but in different conditions, ”he says.

The growing rice inside the country sounds simple, but this is a complex project with large ambitions.

It would take time before we can check the taste of the British rice crop – but this is a very real probability that in the next decade, rice grown in the UK can come to our dinner plates.