U of A engineer Benjamin Runkle is studying rice sustainability on two continents at once, and the payoff could reach your favorite rice dish. In August, he traveled to Vietnam's Mekong Delta to begin testing whether a low-cost, Arkansas-proven strategy for cutting rice farming's emissions holds up in one of the world's largest rice-growing regions.
"Every single person on earth knows what rice is and has a favorite dish, whether it's sushi or grandma's beans and rice," Runkle said. That universal connection is what makes this partnership worth building, benefiting farmers and consumers alike.
The payoff cuts both ways. As global buyers demand proof that rice is grown with lower emissions, Arkansas, the nation's top rice-producing state, stands to gain the most from having reliable ways to measure and prove sustainable practices. And for everyday consumers, that research could mean more environmentally friendly rice on store shelves, without a higher price tag.
Building on a Decade of Arkansas Research
Runkle, a professor in the U of A's Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and his team have spent years studying the environmental footprint of rice production in the Arkansas Delta, measuring water use, methane emissions and the tradeoffs between sustainability practices and farm yield or income. "We have developed expertise in Arkansas quantifying sustainability outcomes of rice production practices," Runkle said.
That expertise led to the Southeast Asia Innovation Alliance for a Global Model of Future Agri-food Systems (SIGMA), a four-institution alliance linking the U of A, the University of Illinois, the National University of Singapore and Can Tho University in Vietnam. The University of Illinois' existing ties to Singapore opened the door to Southeast Asia, and five private funders backed the project.
Source : uark.edu