Global warming haunts Japanese rice farms

Reuters: ….Japanese rice farmers and experts are growing more concerned about rising temperatures which is leading to poorer yields and the production of immature grains with a poor starch content that fetch a lower price even though they taste almost the same.

Japan's average annual temperature has been higher by 0.2 to 1.0 degrees centigrade for about the past decade, when compared to a base figure which is the average of temperatures taken between 1971-2000, data from the Japan Meteorological Agency shows. These temperature rises coincide with a period when immature grains of rice, easily identified by their milky white exterior, were becoming conspicuous in freshly harvested crops. "The 20 or so days after the ear of the rice has appeared is most crucial ... and high temperatures during that period leads to the production of immature grains," said rice expert Ikuo Ueno.

… The heat, combined with fewer sunlight hours and damage from typhoons had contributed to several years of poor harvest in the prefecture, he said. Research centers across Japan are studying ways to grow rice grains that can better cope with higher temperatures. They are also developing new grain varieties, although it may take as much as a decade for commercial harvesting of these grains to begin. Some of these new grain types have started to be planted and have even begun to slowly enter the local markets, although Japanese consumers tend to have conservative palates which means it takes time for new varieties to gain a foothold.

About a decade ago, the National Agricultural Research Center for Kyushu Okinawa Region began to develop "Nikomaru," a rice with a strong tolerance to higher temperatures. It was discovered by chance, according to Makoto Sakai, head of the centre's Rice Breeding Unit, who said the initial aim of the project was to create a new type of rice that would provide a higher yield and a fine grain appearance.

"However, there were hot years during the period we were conducting our research, and the result was that we developed a type of rice that is tolerant to high temperatures," Sakai said. A few farmers in Nagasaki prefecture in Kyushu began to grow Nikomaru rice last year, but the new variety of rice so far only accounts for 3-4 percent of the total crops produced in the region and fetches a relatively low price.

As scientists experiment to find rice grains that can stand the heat, some Japanese chefs complain that even premium rice is not as tasty as it used to be….