Rice Submergence Tolerance

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Rice provides up to two thirds of the diet of many people living in the developing world and one fifth of all calories consumed on the earth. But rice farms cannot withstand the more frequently occurring floods that encroach on the main rice farms due to global warming. Thanks to Pamela C. Ronald, David Mackill, and Kenong Xu, a submergence tolerance gene has been identified and molecular breeding has transferred the gene to a number of local varieties of rice. Rice with this gene last three to five times longer than conventional varieties of rice in flood submersions. This Rice Submergence Tolerance solution won the Flextronics Economic Development Award at The Tech Awards 2012. Plays with the feature film Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton As Himself