How food science is building more climate-friendly rice

Rice is one of the world’s most important food crops. More than half of the global population depends on it as a main component of their daily diet. Yet it is responsible for 10% of global methane emissions, generated by the bacteria that form when water in flooded rice paddies prevents oxygen from reaching the soil. Southeast Asia is the world’s largest rice producer, constituting 33% of the region’s total methane emissions. Rice comprises the majority of Southeast Asians’ daily calories — but at the same time, it can increase the likelihood of contracting a noncommunicable disease such as diabetes or heart disease. The Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute Inte is trying to change that by using science and breeding techniques to create healthier varieties for both humans and the environment. IRRI has been working since the 1960s to reduce poverty and hunger in communities dependent on rice-based agri-food systems. “Not only are we hoping that the agriculture that drives rice-based food systems has a lower impact on the environment, but that the quality of the produce coming out of those systems is healthier for the population,” said Yvonne Pinto, who was appointed as IRRI’s director-general earlier this year. An agri-tech specialist with over 30 years of experience in agriculture and ecosystem development, Pinto previously held roles with microbiome data science platform Eagle Genomics, the Gates Foundation, and the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. She now oversees IRRI’s 1,000-plus staff members in its work researching and implementing rice solutions across 17 countries in Asia and Africa. Among its successes is IRRI’s deployment of golden rice seeds, a genetically engineered variation that contains a plant pigment that the body converts into vitamin A, a lack of which can lead to blindness. More recently, its researchers have bred a variety with a lower glycemic index value and higher protein. This could help address the growing incidence of diabetes and the need for adequate protein intake. “We're talking about resilient farming systems to feed a growing world population.” --— Yvonne Pinto, director-general, International Rice Research Institute Core to making such advances is food science, a nascent field that combines chemistry, biochemistry, nutrition, microbiology, and engineering to transform food systems. Food science is not yet fully understood as a key component to tackling human and environmental health, Pinto said. “We're at a very big milestone in food systems transformation, where in the past, we were quite happy to apply a lot of fertilizers [and] crop protection chemicals, not really appreciating that those may have impacts on human health,” she said. “That's just not acceptable anymore.” In an interview with Devex, Pinto explained the significance of food science for producing new rice varieties, why diplomacy is needed when working across multiple sectors to transform food systems, and how exactly IRRI is producing new rice varieties. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. How can rice be adapted to support human and environmental health? We sit here at IRRI on something called the rice gene bank. This is 132,000 accessions from about 100 countries which is the most rich genetic material that we could use to create varieties that are not only adaptive to an increasingly warm climate, but also help mitigate climate change by reducing things like greenhouse gas emissions from the crop. How do we know what is in the gene bank? We are now looking at new technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, to understand what is there in order to accelerate the development of new materials. We're not just involved in rice as a crop. We're working in rice-based systems, and we're working with a whole host of others who are subsistence farmers, who grow rice and fish in the same environment; or rice and wheat in the same environment; or rice and legumes; or rice and potatoes. We're talking about resilient farming systems to feed a growing world population. The intelligence and the understanding we derive in rice-based systems can be applied elsewhere. As we produce more regenerative approaches to rice, the principle of those approaches is applicable to all sorts of farming systems, and we share our information with lots of different organizations. We also work very closely with governments, so we look at what the demands are for those governments, how their farmers are coping in certain situations, and we try to respond to that in the best way possible. Do you think there is enough understanding about the importance of food science in global challenges such as climate change? I'm not sure there is. I was talking to somebody this morning who said, “Look, we're really interested in mitigating green greenhouse gasses, and we've invested in [mitigating fumes from] heavy traffic and we've invested in renewable energy.” Well, if agriculture contributes 30% of all greenhouse gasses globally, why are we not investing in agriculture in the same way? If we really do want to mitigate climate [change] for all, we might think we would pick the biggest sector or contribution. There is much to be done in the agricultural sector that hasn't received the attention. What are some areas of contention within food science? AI and machine learning. Those are controversial in their own right. We need to be as responsible as we can in being able to demonstrate their value and be careful and discerning about the analysis of the results. There are other ways of modifying plants, such as genetic modification. That's fairly controversial, but to be honest, there are many other ways to produce the same results. There is something called gene editing, which is simply understanding how to replace certain genes or move them around so that you get the expressions you want. There are technologies such as hybrid rice production systems, for example. What are some of the challenges in the food science space right now? With the post-COVID-19 era, there is less funding available for scientific research. Having said that, what happened during COVID-19 was that everybody became very aware of the fragility of their supply chains. ... The flow of food [was] disrupted. … We realized that it's important to produce food without affecting the environment, and we are beginning to understand, at a scientific level, how nutritious food helps us to lead healthier lives. What direction that leads us into is that we're working with people that we may not have worked with in the past. We may be working now with hospitals that are interested in particular types of rice because they are more nutritious and it aids the recovery of their patients. It could be that we are working with organizations that have high levels of Type 2 diabetes and they want particular solutions to that. The types of contributions we're making go beyond food security into something which is more about nutrition, food systems transformation, environmental protection, and much more holistic in their nature. We're covering three or four targets at the same time as opposed to just simply one. You’ve talked about the need for food science diplomacy. Is this where that might come in? We're very much a scientific institution, but to create food systems transformation you need to invigorate partners that are able to work together to transform those innovations in the food system. … The best way to persuade them is to use data and evidence to say, “Here are some additional choices for you to think about, and here are the outcomes in human health, for example, associated with those choices.” Also, if we're working with different kinds of partners whom we may not have worked with before, like the development finance institutions or more human health-oriented institutions, we're able to persuade, together with them, a different proposition to both governments and consumers. Diplomacy in that mix is very much about understanding where you meet them, the journey they've been on, and the opportunity to take them further on that journey, but through their own choice.