Editor's Note On May 22nd, 2022, Academician Yuan Longping, the "father of hybrid rice", died in Changsha. For decades, Yuan Lao kept his original intention and studied hybrid rice technology in the fields, making "China people's rice bowls firmly in their own hands" and "contributing to solving the problem of food shortage in the world". Now, the excellent hybrid rice varieties cultivated by Yuan Lao and his team have taken root in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, the United States, Brazil and other countries. And China Daoxiang is far away.
The process of rice globalization is not only Yuan Laoxin's department, but also an important chapter in the history of world rice. Let's go into history together, see the leopard in the mirror, take the American rice planting tradition from17th century to the end of World War II as an incision, and feel the "rice of the world", so as to remember Academician Yuan Longping and pay tribute to the old man's worldwide and historic contribution.
The origin of American rice: the seeds of rice
Biography of Yuan Longping records:1In March, 980, representatives of American Round Seed Company visited China. The important purpose of this leading agricultural enterprise's trip is to learn from rice experts in China. As a result, hybrid rice, one of the patented agricultural technologies in China, has also become the first "China agricultural technology" to go abroad. In May of that year, Academician Yuan Longping and his team went to the other side of the Pacific Ocean to impart technology to their American counterparts, and cultivated "Sino-American hybrid rice" with a yield increase of 79% compared with fertile fields in the United States.
Yuan Longping, the "father of hybrid rice" in China, and American rice experts studied the vision china diagram of super hybrid rice.
Do Americans cultivate rice? Why are they hungry for hybrid rice technology in China? It all started with the introduction of rice more than 300 years ago.
The American Rice Foundation cooperates closely with the United States (USDA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Food Program (WFP), and will fully incorporate fortified rice into the territory of the American Rice Association in the US food aid program.
1685, Henry Woodward, a resident of Charleston, bought a small bag of Madagascar rice seeds from Captain John Thurber. According to the research of agricultural historians, it is very likely that this package of rice seeds originated in this area. Woodward immigrated to the United States on 1666. While taking care of his manor, he also worked as an Indian translator in the colonial court. Following Woodward, colonial agricultural suppliers searched for many improved rice varieties from all over the world.
/kloc-In the 7th century, unf.edu mapped the rice planting in Li Lian, South Carolina.
By the 1690 s, the early rice industry in the United States was rich in germplasm resources. 169 1 year, Peter Gerrard successfully developed a "threshing machine" and obtained a patent license from South Carolina, which laid an important foundation for the early industrial take-off of colonial rice industry. From 1698, South Carolina began to sell rice products abroad, and the trade volume increased year by year.
South Carolina rice data map
Why has rice become the agricultural darling of the Gulf Coast and other similar areas in the United States?
In 1903, economist knapp analyzed the geographical background of rice cultivation in the United States: "There are some lands along the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, which cannot be used for agriculture without thorough drainage and ventilation. But the price of this drainage system is too high for Americans to allow such a vast area to continue to produce zero. Since the drainage system is too expensive, the key is to find crops that can flourish under the existing conditions-rice is one of the few grains that can grow in acidic and humid soil. "
Water control is an unavoidable problem in the rise of American rice industry. Around 1750, plantation owner McCann johnstone developed a set of water conservancy facilities to prevent salty irrigation. American agricultural historians generally recognize the great value of johnstone's compound water conservancy system and praise it for "opening up thousands of acres of new land for rice planting and greatly improving farming and yield." It should be pointed out that although the tide has been effectively blocked, the rice industry in the United States will still suffer from wind disasters in the 17 to 19 century because most of the planting areas are within the scope of the hurricane. 1822, a violent hurricane coincided with the rice harvest season in Carolina, Georgia and other producing areas. As a result, the hurricane "destroyed the harvest season and failed to harvest grain".
The prosperity of rice planting has profoundly rewritten the production and life of Americans in rice-growing areas. Thanks to the development of rice industry in the Mississippi River valley, the related industries in some surrounding cities have developed in an all-round way, forming a "rice boom" development situation-/kloc-Around the 1960 s, the rice milling industry in New Orleans expanded rapidly and soon covered the surrounding production areas, and its output value made great contributions to the local agricultural economy.
By the middle and late19th century, rice had become a more important staple food choice for people in Xi 'an. At the same time, in other rice producing areas, we can also see that small-scale agricultural operators list rice as their daily diet. On the other hand, while rewriting the face of rice-growing areas in the United States, rice is also deeply impacted by the adjustment of economic factors. For example, South Carolina and Georgia, once the main rice producing areas in the United States, declined rapidly between 1880- 1900, and were replaced by states such as Sana 'a, Texas and Arkansas with better comprehensive factor allocation.
Great changes in rice in the United States: a sudden advance in mechanization
The mechanization of rice industry promoted the drastic changes of American rice industry at the turn of 19 century and 20 century.
/kloc-data map of American hydraulic rice mill in the 0 th and 9 th centuries
It is recognized by American agricultural historians that around 1885, some improved rice farmers realized that "the labor-intensive rice planting in the East such as China or Japan is not suitable for the United States-the United States simply cannot provide as rich labor as the rice planting areas in the East." As a result, a mechanized rice planting began to brew: 1884, the first binding machine in the history of American rice planting arrived in Sana 'a.
This machine, originally used in the wheat industry, set off an "industry" in rice fields in the south-farmers who tasted the sweetness bought mechanized equipment in succession: 1888, William Dilling and his company successfully manufactured harvesters and steam threshers to serve the rice industry, which made the American rice industry really enter the mechanical age.
When the 20th century came, a large amount of oil reserves were found in the coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico where rice-growing areas were densely distributed in the United States, and oil production wells mushroomed everywhere. During World War I, the rice planting industry in California rose with the trend. The earliest local commercial rice planting appeared in 19 12. In just five years, the huge opportunities brought by the war made rice export a bright color in California's economy.
19 100 American farmers drive machinery to trim and prepare rice fields. Library of Congress map.
In the first 20 years of the 20th century, the United States strictly protected the local rice trade and set a very high tax rate of 2 cents per pound. The low tax preference makes American rice show a price advantage in the face of target customers such as "the working class in Britain, Japan and China", thus contributing to the sustained growth of American rice products exports.
In the 1930 s, workers on Sana 'a farm were harvesting rice.
1938 Sana 'a workers are polishing rice. Library of Congress.
During the Great Depression, the American rice industry, like other agriculture, suffered huge setbacks, and rice cultivation in some areas fell into a short silence. After the end of World War II, the world rice market gradually recovered during the economic recovery period, and American rice farmers gradually recovered their vitality taken away by the Great Depression, and green rice seedlings thrived again.
Map of paddy fields in the east wing of Arkansas
During the period of 1949, Mary Hillemann, a student of Arkansas Teachers College, visited the revived rice planting area in the state and felt that: "The midsummer sun shines on the lush rice fields, and wild flowers bloom along the dams and fences. Those dams are tortuous and used to store irrigation water for rice fields. The comfortable residence of rice farmers is surrounded by well-maintained grasslands, where horses and cows graze, and flocks of chickens and fattened pigs stay in the barn ... "
"More than 60% of paddy fields in the United States are planted with hybrid rice from China."
Hybrid rice widely planted in the United States today has a long history of indissoluble bond with China. 1988, Academician Yuan Longping said in a paper: "The advantages of rice that has been widely used in production in China were first reported by Jones of the United States in 1926." In the past decades, the hybrid rice industry has undergone earth-shaking changes, and the discovery of American scientists was created by hardworking and intelligent China as a reference for American agriculture.
An example of China's donation of hybrid rice after 1979 was1979. In 1979, China donated 1.5 kg of hybrid rice seeds to American oil and gas exploration and production company, representing China's "going out", and its output was more than 33% higher than that of American native varieties. Since 1980s, American rice industry has been optimistic about and actively promoting China hybrid rice. 1In March 1980, the United States introduced four hybrid rice varieties, Nanyou No.2, Nanyou No.6, Wei You No.6 and Siyou No.6, from China, and the trial planting effect was quite good, which was exclaimed by American farmers as "Oriental Rice".
On September 27th, 2022, farmers operated machinery to work in Yuan Longping, an academician of Xing 'an League, harvesting rice in saline-alkali land/photo by Xu Qin.
Since then 1986, in 2000 and 2002, the United States has actively followed suit, allowing enterprises to introduce a number of cutting-edge hybrid rice varieties from China Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center and other institutions. It is reported that as of 2009, the yield of hybrid rice planting areas in the United States has increased by 25% on average compared with conventional rice planting areas, which has greatly benefited American rice farmers. It is worth mentioning that with his outstanding achievements in hybrid rice research, Yuan Longping was elected as a foreign academician of the United States in 2006, which fully reflects the trust and gratitude of the United States, including American rice farmers, to Yuan Longping.
In 2022, Academician Yuan Longping revealed at an event: "Now more than 60% of rice fields in the United States are planted with hybrid rice from China!" Now Academician Yuan has left us, but his eternal gift to all mankind will continue to benefit China and the United States.
September 16, 2022, Changsha, opening ceremony of undergraduate freshmen of Hunan Agricultural University. Yuan Longping attended the ceremony and delivered a speech.
It can be said that Academician Yuan Longping is not only an epoch-making great man in the rice planting history of China10.4 million years, but also an epoch-making great man in the rice industry history of the United States for 300 years. He is a well-deserved "Yuan Longping of the World".
References:
Henry Deslov. The history of American rice industry, 1685- 1985, Texas AM university press, 2000.
[2] Smith Wayne. Rice: Origin, History, Technology and Production, JohnWileySons Company, 2003.
[3] g.t. surface. Rice in America, Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Volume 43, No.7 (19 1 1), pp. 500-509.
[4] Hu, Jiang: Current situation and development prospect of hybrid rice in the United States, hybrid rice, 20 1 1( 1), p. 8 1-83.
Editor in Charge: Zhu Zhe
Proofreading: Shi Yan
The above is about the collocation of horse and 1996 mouse in 2002, and it is about the sharing of hybrid rice. After reading 1996, I hope this will help everyone!