China Turns to Dry Land Rice as Water Crisis Looms

[GliderGuider]

China Turns to Dry Land Rice as Water Crisis Looms

BEIJING - China, the world's top consumer and producer of rice, is turning to a new kind of rice that can grow on dry soil like wheat as the country faces a serious water shortage due to industrialisation and the global warming.

Aerobic rice requires 50-70 percent less water, although its yields are about 30 percent less than hybrid rice -- a strain that brought about the Green Revolution in the 1960s, Wang told Reuters on the sidelines of a workshop in Beijing.

Here we have the first sign of the Green Revolution running out of gas. As the world population expands by 40% over the next 40 years, we will need hefty improvements in crop yields. Instead, we are running out of water, soil fertility is dropping, and the fertilizer needed to maintain yields in that situation will continue rising in price as natural gas supplies decline. Global per capita grain production is already dropping. What are the extra 2.5 billion people we'll be inviting to the party between now an 2050 going to eat? Cake?

[tom_paine]

1. Peak Oil means so many things:

Peak Economy
Peak Agriculture

and maybe even

Peak Medicine

What else am I missing here?

[GliderGuider]

2. Peak People?

Naaahhhh, couldn't be...