China Invents Rice That Can Grow in Salt Water

10/24/2017 China Invents Rice That Can Grow in Salt Water, Can Feed Over 200 Million People
d Over 200 Million People : worldnews
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China Invents Rice
Not the first saline tolerant rice search
69.0k
That Can Grow in Salt Water, Can Feed
Over 200 Million People (nextshark.com) this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2017
submitted 14 hours ago by strhope
2812 comments share report 68,981 points (87% upvoted)
shortlink: https://redd.it/78dgb9
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[] stray1ight 10.2k points 13 hours ago username password
Seems like this could potentially be a game changer -

remember me reset password login
it's currently eight times the cost of "normal" rice,
though.
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[] smileedude 5842 points 13 hours ago
worldnews
That's actually seems amazingly cheap, given
freshwater processes for cultivating rice have been subscribe 17,750,460 readers
refined over thousands of years. 36,997 users here now
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Filter out dominant topics:
[] Martianese 2162 points 13 hours ago
For anyone wondering about the NEW! Filter North Korea

price/packaging: NEW!
Yuan Mi, however, costs 50 yuan ($7.50)

Filter Trump
per kilogram about eight times more than
the cost of ordinary rice. It is currently sold
Filter Syria / Iraq
in 1-kilogram (2.2 pounds), 2-kilogram (4.4
pounds), 5-kilogram (11 pounds) and 10-
Filter Israel / Palestine
kilogram (22 pounds) packs.
Filter all dominant topics
[] poopellar 2535 points 13 hours ago
I spent the longest time not knowing how

many pounds equals to a kilogram. Welcome!
/r/worldnews is for major news from
[] Dakabaka 3374 points 13 hours ago* around the world except US-internal news /
US politics
Not exactly strange considering its an
archaic measurement only really used
by America or the Commonwealth Worldnews Rules
Edit: please no more.. I get it. Canada
and the UK are the only Commonwealth Disallowed submissions
countries that still use imperial. America US internal news/US politics
put a man on (and according to one guy Editorialized titles
in) the moon. It does not matter, in the Misleading titles
end we will offer all imperial units on the Editorials, opinion, analysis
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10/24/2017 China Invents Rice That Can Grow in Salt Water, Can Feed Over 200 Million People : worldnews
altar of the metric God and live in Feature stories

perfect unison. Non-English articles
Images, videos or audio clips
Petitions, advocacy, surveys
[] gaspemcbee 1672 points 13 hours ago All caps words in titles
The only reason the imperial system Blogspam (if stolen content/direct
is still strong in Canada (we use copy)
metric mostly though) is Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr
construction and importing all that Old news (1 week old) articles
equipment from the US. See the wiki for details on each rule
Disallowed comments
[] the_original_Retro 707 points 12 hours
ago Bigotry / Other offensive content
Personal attacks on other users
It's also because people are slow
Memes/GIFs
to change. Anyone over fifty up
Unlabeled NSFW images/videos
here almost always looks at URL shorteners
things priced per pound, and all
See the wiki for details on each rule
the grocery store flyers pretty
much list both imperial and Continued or outstandingly blatant
violation of the submission or commenting
metric prices for anything that's rules will result in you being temporarily
weighed. We've almost banned from the subreddit without a
completely lost "gallons", and warning.
"miles" has mostly died out, but

Please don't ever feed the trolls.
weight in pounds seems to be Downvote, report and move on.
hanging on.
What moderators do and can't do
Message the moderators
[] mrducky78 82 points 9 hours ago
Britain is easily the weirdest

when it comes to imperial vs
Sticky Posts
metric. A list of all recent stickied posts.
They use both,

a community for 9 years
interchangeably, constantly MODERATORS message the moderators
differing in which is most qgyh2
common. maxwellhill
BritishEnglishPolice
anutensil
[] ImOverThereNow 57 points bennjammin
7 hours ago DoremusJessup
And we use pints only for emmster
green_flash
the measurement of milk PraiseBeToScience
and beer. ...and 94 more
permalink embed parent
report
[] datarancher 31 points 4 hours ago
And they're different pints!

continue this thread
load more comments (17 replies)
[] funkyymonk 740 points 11 hours ago
Its infuriating how much some people will avoid metric. I work with a
bunch of old guys in a machine shop. The machines and all our
measuring devices (the digital ones, anyway) all are capable of
switching between metric and imperial. Yet, when we get a print in
metric they take time out of their day to translate all the specs and
tolerances to imperial instead of just using metric.
At couple times a year someone scraps an entire job because someone
fucked up a decimal or thinks the tolerance of .13mm is actually .13
inches (its actually .0051 inches, huge fucking difference)
[] thyusername 853 points 11 hours ago
Every once in a while you lose a Mars Orbiter too

[] zedlx 318 points 10 hours ago
Almost caused a plane crash too:

Air Canada Flight 143 was a scheduled domestic passenger
flight between Montreal and Edmonton that ran out of fuel on
July 23, 1983 at an altitude of 12,500 metres (41,000 ft),
midway through the flight. The crew was able to glide the
Boeing 767 aircraft safely to an emergency landing at a
former Royal Canadian Air Force base in Gimli, Manitoba, that
had been turned into a motor racing track. This unusual
aviation incident earned the aircraft the nickname "Gimli
Glider."
The subsequent investigation revealed that a combination of
company failures, human errors and confusion over unit
measures had led to the aircraft being refueled with
insufficient fuel for the planned flight.

[] GuyManMcDudeface 88 points 10 hours ago
https://i.imgur.com/8YXle09.gif
Ooops.... forgot to carry the one!!

[] Cytrynowy 101 points 11 hours ago*
Nasa uses metric.

edit: Yes, I know. You can stop now.

[] haccapeliitta 43 points 10 hours ago
Or have to repair a space telescope in space because of it.
[] r4garms 152 points 10 hours ago
I needed a washer to secure a number plate to the rear of my

motorcycle. It didn't have to serve a mechanical function, it just had
to be approximately a certain size.
The bike shop next door (Melbourne, Australia) dealt exclusively in
Harley Davidsons.
"Excuse me, do you happen to have any washers, around 25mm in
diameter?"
"Nah mate, we only use imperial sizes here."
"That's okay. It doesn't need to be precise..."
"I said we don't have any!"
FMD. What. A. Dick.
[] HairlessWookiee 67 points 8 hours ago
You should have just walked out, then walked back in with a hat
on, or sunnies, etc. and said "Do you have any 1 inch washers?".

[] greatsavem9 47 points 8 hours ago
Did you remark, "hmm that's strange given they make Harley
Davidson's in Asia"

[] JugglesChainsaws 74 points 9 hours ago
Wait what? Only imperial? To the point of being rude? In

Australia? Ffs we have been fully metrics for fucking ages! What
a cunt.

[] GuyManMcDudeface 43 points 7 hours ago*
FMD? Fuck my dick? Fuck my dad? Fucking mad dude???

Guys, I need help
Edit: Ah you aussies and your words. You heard it here first, you
guys should be the new leaders of the free world! Fuck My Dingo

[] bundle_of_bricks 21 points 8 hours ago
FMD
Fuck my dick?
[] TatersThePotatoBarn 64 points 10 hours ago
If you're producing anything with an offset as small as .13mm you

better damn well know what a milimeter is...
[] versacepython- 13 points 8 hours ago
Most things in our shop are 5 thou or tigher. Factory I worked

in was usually 5 microns. .005" isn't that tight.
[] RegularPhil 34 points 10 hours ago
.13mm isn't extremely small tolerance

[] antsugi 37 points 10 hours ago
I turned my scale to kilograms. I'm doing my part!

[] Lysol1996 40 points 11 hours ago
Interesting I run CNC machine and if I switched the parameter to

use metric I would be fired lol
[] bartlovepuch 9 points 9 hours ago
Lol.

[] InV15iblefrog 28 points 10 hours ago
As a metric lad in an imperial world, I sympathise. Ask me how

much a litre is, and I'll have to say just over 3 cans of coke. Because
I can't visualise a litre, but knowing that 330ml 3 times isn't too far
from it, I can visualise that.
Likewise, I can visualise someone 6ft tall, but I'll have to calculate
180cm as almost two metres, minus a little bit.
As infuriating as it is, it might be to do with the mind's eye, and how
it sees measurements. It's not just knowing the conversion rate,
albeit important, but actually knowing what that means in day to day
life.
[] gamotosou 10 points 7 hours ago
Imperial here. I often keep in mind that our liquor is sold

(mainly) in 750mL bottles which is roughly 24 ounces and 1/5th
of a gallon. That certainly seems to set me up for guestimating

other liquids.
[] threedux 33 points 8 hours ago
To be fair, Im one of those old guys in the US. (Well if you

consider almost 40 old.) I am familiar with both systems...I have a
pretty good idea of cm m and L, but only as they relate to inches,
yards, and quarts. See, if you tell me a distance in inches or miles,
an area in acres, or a weight in pounds, I have an instant innate
understanding of how long or how much volume that is, coming from
growing up with these measurements and decades of use. I just get
it. I will always have to convert metric in my head to get a feel for
a weight or distance. Its not as easy to just stop using it as you
say. It would completely remove my innate and not calculated frame
of reference for measuring the physical world. I agree that metric is
better but they need to start teaching it exclusively in school to have
imperial slowly die out with the next generation. Expecting old
timers to change is less realistic.
[] SmaugTheGreat 146 points 11 hours ago
Humans aren't slow to change. They're slow to accept change.

[] Teripid 413 points 11 hours ago
I see you don't know many homeless folks.

[] oblio76 77 points 11 hours ago
Was wondering when someone would finally make the

homelessness-metric connection.

[] GuyManMcDudeface 15 points 9 hours ago*
Ever seen a homeless guy put on a new jacket?

[] leshake 45 points 11 hours ago
You see kids, if you use the passive voice you sound profound, even
if the meaning is the same.
[] gaspemcbee 57 points 12 hours ago
And cooking in Farenheit because all those over where from the US so it
was written in farenheit.
[] the_original_Retro 66 points 12 hours ago
Yep, forgot about that. A lot of older people find 70 degree room
temperature much more meaningful than 20 degrees.
[] zocc 109 points 11 hours ago
Quote from Wikipedia:

As of 2017, seven countries formally do not use the metric
system as their main standard of measurement: the United
States, Myanmar, Liberia, Palau, Marshall Islands, the
Federated States of Micronesia, and Samoa.

[] aapowers 34 points 10 hours ago
My British grandparents are like this.

It's not really their fault - their education and half their working
life was mainly in imperial.
I think the Australians and NZers were a bit draconian with their
switchover.
Then again, it makes sense.
Up to 1973, Australia and NZ's main trading partner was the UK.
Imperial was fine.
Then we suddenly ditched them for the EU (it was the only really
sustainable choice for us at the time), and they had to swap to
the Asian markets.
Asia (apart from a couple of ex-colonies) was on metric, so
running two systems was completely redundant.

[] radicallyhip 43 points 11 hours ago
20 degrees? What are you, the goddamn ice man?

[] tangentandhyperbole 12 points 11 hours ago
Crazy that miles had mostly died out.

Not surprising you lost gallons, what with your bags and all.
I seriously think it's because of gas. We tax the hell out of our gas
up here so the gasoline prices look a LOT better when posted at the
pump when they're in litres.
As an example, regular gas right now is around 110 cents per litre in
my province. Since there are 3.7 litres in a US Gallon, that works out
to $4 a gallon roughly.
$4 on that big poster outside the gas station would make people
cringe like mad.
[] NCA-Bolt 7 points 10 hours ago
Australia switched over to metric in the 1970s, and it looks like the
same time Canada did. I have not heard a native measure in feet and
inches(except for peoples heights), or ever expressed weight in stone,
pounds and ounces. I think your interlinking with America slows it down
a lot. Do you still have miles on your roads?
[] LiveMaI 12 points 9 hours ago
but weight in pounds seems to be hanging on.

/r/loseit can probably help with that.
load more comments (1 reply)
[] Taylor555212 34 points 11 hours ago
What a coincidence! Only reason we've been keeping the imperial is

because of all that exported equipment we send you guys! This is really
awkward.
[] DemIce 31 points 10 hours ago
F construction in particular. A "2 by 4" isn't even actually 2 inches by 4

inches (note the omission of units in labeling there). And I don't mean from
manufacture variation or as a symptom of using a natural material. It's
codified to be 1 inch by 3 inch. 2 by 6? Subtract half an inch from each.
2 by 8? Subtract from one and from the other. Wat.
Modern processes almost guarantee these measures (but we want things
cheap, so expect them not to be super exact, or boards to be perfect
rectangles.. But I digress), yet instead of actually making things e.g. 2 by 4
inches or renaming them to their actual measures, we're stuck with the
above baloney.
[] StampSlagish 71 points 10 hours ago
This is more of a processing anomaly. Originally, dimensional lumber is

rough cut to its nominal dimensions. The differences in the finished
boards are due to planing it smooth in a standard manner, as opposed
to a lack of precision. A rough cut 2x4 is 2" by 4", for example. (Source:
I am made of wood and wish to be a real boy.)
[] HumbleDrop 8 points 8 hours ago
Can confirm, work in a large sawmill. All boards are cut to nominal
dimensions are in the sawmill, and planed down to asshole
dimensions at the planer mill. Our 2*4 becomes their 1 3/4" * 3 1/2"
approx.
[] SectorRatioGeneral 120 points 10 hours ago
In China we also still use our ancient traditional unit "<jn>"(sometimes

translated as "catty") as measurement of weight in daily life. Historically every
dynasty define "" differently, ranging from modern equivalent of 258g all the
way to 596g. But what happened in the 20th century was, we redefined this
unit to be exactly 600g and later 500g in order to fit into the metric scale.
That way we don't need to change our habit while still being able to do metric
calculations easily. In our supermarkets everything is sold by s, and we
simply need to multiply by 2 to get the kilogram number. This happens to a lot
of other traditional Chinese units as well, like we also have a system similar to
the foot&inch called ch & cn, and our "foot" was redefined to 33.33 cm, etc.
I find quite a few Imperial units parrallel Chinese archic units in this regard, like
"pound", with it being slightly different across English-influenced countries and
also pretty close to 500g. If the US or Canada are to go full metric someday I'd
suggest you guys to use this method, simply redefine it to 450g or 500g for
easier calculation and you can keep using it.
[] Titted_Shark 12 points 10 hours ago
To add to this 1kg is called "gongjin" and can roughly translate as

"common jin" indicated that it is a globally-used unit of measurement.
Inches can also be written as "yingcun" where "ying" indicates it as
being a British unit of measurement - I'm going to guess that has come
from British influence in HK and it filtering into the Mainland from there.
Don't see it used often though, I only use it when ordering at Subway.
[] Diplocorp 24 points 10 hours ago
Thats facinating. I hope that the Imperial system is altered in the same
manner.
[] akapulk0 20 points 9 hours ago*
Yeah and everybody would love it as they would 'lose' some weight in
the process. A person weighing 220 pounds would weight only 200 after
the change! Edit:missing word
[] hrfhrf 42 points 11 hours ago
Australia doesn't use it, nor New Zealand what do you mean by
Commonwealth?
[] SharpshooterHIT 48 points 11 hours ago
He appears to think the commonwealth is the UK and Canada only.

[] Paradigm240 11 points 9 hours ago
South Africa here, we're with you dude.

[] Rusty-Shackleford 82 points 12 hours ago
They still use lots of imperial measurements in Britain. Despite the fact the UK
seems to project the image of being all-metric, that's just not true. Food and
other goods at the grocery store are measured in Metric, but the weight of
people is still measured in imperial (Stone and Pounds). If you buy a bag of
potatoes, it lists unit pricing in kilograms and pounds. Petrol is sold in litres, but
distance on highways is still measured in miles and many cars list MPH, and
people still discuss distance in miles.
And the worst of them all is British ovens: Some measure in "Gas Mark" which
is the most arbitrary bullshit system ever invented. whether or not your oven
has a fan dictates whether or not your oven has an even temperature and
whether or not your oven has hot spots with differences greater than 50
degrees when you pop in a cake 6 inches to the wrong side
[] finjeta 259 points 11 hours ago
Time for some copypasta.

Presumably to repel foreigners, the English have decided to institute a
system of measurement in which the metric and imperial units are used
in complementary distribution, and God help you if forget that train
distances are kilometres but cars drive in miles and fuel efficiency is in
miles per gallon, but petrol is sold in litres and millitres are for soda but
pints are for beer except for bottled beer and milk is in pints except at
certain shops, or that acres are for real estate but hectares are for land
registry and square feet are for houses but square metres are for carpets
and metres are for fabric but clothes are in inches and people are in
centimetres except for when they're in feet, and people are weighed in
stone except for when they're in pounds except for when they're in
kilograms, and fresh food is in kilograms but packaged food is often in
pounds except it is still labeled in grams.
"How much" and "how far" and "how long" are essentially unanswerable
without years of study, and if an Englishman asks such a question, it is
generally advisable for the foreigner to apologize and leave while
complaining indistinctly about the rain.
[] JapanNoodleLife 37 points 11 hours ago
This is hilarious.
[] heathersecondaccount 39 points 10 hours ago
Also spot-fucking-on. I never really thought about all the

contradictions they hold since I don't speak in measurements
consistently- let alone fluently.
[] RedPandacat1 11 points 10 hours ago
It just sort of all makes sense to us though, despite there being

0 logic.

[] Titted_Shark 8 points 10 hours ago
In the UK, our electric trains run on third-rail technology in the

South East instead of overhead wires - wouldn't want to appear
too continental being so close to France now, would we?
[] Spoonshape 11 points 9 hours ago
But extremely British. They went metric except for when someone
somewhere managed to build enough outrage to "save our pints" or
similar appeals to "those damn foreigners trying to steal our MPG.
[] Pleberal 11 points 9 hours ago
It's even more arbitrary in construction.

Wood is sold in 3m and 6m lenghs but it's cross section is in inches.
so you hear things like i'll need a 6m 4" x 2"
Angle irons which are actually made of steel steel have density
defined as kilograms per foot.
Then you have building cladding, nobody knows how that works, no
one.
[] 10greenbottles 40 points 11 hours ago
Science and engineering is exclusively metric though.

[] jamesinc 18 points 11 hours ago
Wait, so you invent the BTU and then don't even use it??
[] perpetualis_motion 4 points 11 hours ago
It was just for the export market.

[] Snaykei 135 points 12 hours ago
Most of the Commonwealth (if not all) uses the metric system.
[] Highcalibur10 139 points 12 hours ago
I was about to say...

Aus/NZ aren't using that backwards shit.
[] nedkelly199 20 points 11 hours ago
Malaysia, Australia don't use pounds. Apart frim the UK what c'wealth uses it?
[] SharpshooterHIT 29 points 11 hours ago
Just Canada. Not sure what shit this guy is on about.

[] Burial 8 points 10 hours ago
Canada only uses it for some things. We mainly use metric.

[] Flocculencio 13 points 10 hours ago
Most Commonwealth countries are metric.

[] Fuzer 6 points 7 hours ago
https://imgur.com/a/yjJ9j relevant.
[] Arsspeak 9 points 10 hours ago
That's still cheap af compared to my place where $10/kg is normal.
But still it's rather of considerable luxury. We can't know for sure about the quality of
this new rice.
[] ledivin 82 points 13 hours ago
I imagine the majority of those processes are available for saltwater cultivation, too
But it's important to point out that this is only "SOMEWHAT SALTY water cultivation",
not actual "seawater cultivation".
You need to cut one part sea water with four parts fresh water for this stuff to grow.
It's not like you can just pump water in from the coast and use it directly.
[] Biotot 297 points 12 hours ago
That's much less exciting :(

It could still be pretty exciting... if there was a lot of otherwise unusable land
that only this stuff could grow in, and if there was a shortage of food to begin
with. But unfortunately neither's the case... so yeah, not as exciting as one
might first think.
There is a possible bonus though: one of the problems with the most popular
and high-yielding forms of rice is it's not very nutritious at all. It's pretty much
just starch - read the nutrient list for white steamed rice to see this.
If you can modify its genome to bump its nutrient content while growing it in
soil that was previously unusable and still has lots of nutrients, you could end
up with a food staple that's a lot more nutritious.
But the article doesn't really get into that, so the argument for this stuff is still
a bit weak, at least for now.
[] Kilazur 47 points 11 hours ago
Excuse-me from asking this, I'm from Europe: what the heck of a unit is a
"cup"?
[] rmachenw 30 points 11 hours ago
It depends whether you are talking about a U.S. customary cup or a

U.S. legal cup. In Canada a cup is a quarter of a litre. In the U.S., the
legal cup is 240 ml.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit)
[] A_Sinclaire 70 points 10 hours ago
Japanese cup = 200ml

(Old) Canadian cup = 227ml
US customary cup = 237ml

US legal cup = 240ml
Metric cup = 250ml
Imperial cup = 284ml
Latin American cup = sometimes 200ml, sometimes 250ml \_()_/

We use standard utensil sizes in cooking measurements. A cup = 1/4

litre = 250mL. We also use teaspoon (5mL) and tablespoon (15mL).
This is because most cooking and baking is done in the kitchen where
these pre-sized instruments are easy to grab and very standardized so
you use 1 of them or 2 of them or 1/2 of them.
Because of this, everyone that bakes pretty much knows what "2 cups
flour" is, but less people would know if you said a weight (which requires
a scale) or a big number like 500 mL for a size.
[] BlueAdmir 18 points 10 hours ago*
You still lower the fresh water requirement by a fifth.

I mean you'd be happy if I told you from now on your car eats 20% less gas.
If purifying X liters of water costs Fuckton$, I'd be happy to pay 0.8*Fuckton$
[] roiderats 8 points 11 hours ago
"but in the north, in the Bothnian Bay, the salinity is so low,[6] from 0.4%
near Kvarken to 0.2% in the northernmost part[7], that many freshwater fish such
as the pike, whitefish and perch thrive in it"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Bothnia
I doubt rice would grow on ice thou
[] 7LeagueBoots 12 points 11 hours ago
The Bothnian Bay and parts of the Baltic have so little salt in them that in some
places you can drink the water and get hydrated. Not that you should, but you
could.
[] MercenaryOfTroy 6 points 11 hours ago
Hmm. I am wondering if you could could engineer a plant to be part mangrove (a

pure salt water plant) with a bushy crop, like maybe a nut or berry, to make a crop
that grows in salt water.
I was wondering something similar and started a CRISPR topic on askscience to

ask how far they could take it. Will link it here if it passes their moderation and
gets posted.
An issue with mangroves as a food source though is the root systems that allow
them to grow in salt water would make it very very difficult to get in there and
commercially harvest anything from them.
[] MercenaryOfTroy 5 points 11 hours ago
We might be able to take ideas from pre Columbian farming styles in the
Amazon rain forest. Most people don't know this but the forest used to be
highly populated and one of the highest amount of domesticated plants in
the world. So I would say look at their styles of harvesting food for
freshwater mangrove like plants and see what could be mechanised the
best.
The issue there though is those forms of agriculture are just way too
labour intensive to be commercially viable when you compare the cost
per pound of food produced to, say, a potato farm.
They work for small self-sustaining communities like homesteaders or
societies where it's a standard to spend most of your time 'working'
directly with your environment in order to live and prosper... but unless
you're appealing to the health-food market or some other niche, the
labour costs of all of that work mean that what you're going to get out
of such practices is going to be very expensive in the supermarket
produce section, perhaps prohibitively so.
[] fluffulumpkins 292 points 13 hours ago
A few years back there was also a story about salt water cultivable potatoes. That being said,
it may not be a single crop proposition to make ends meet at an optimal cost.
However even with all that in mind it is still diluted salt water and the article fails to state by
how much it is diluted by. So it should all be taken in with a grain of salty rice.
[] joeflux 23 points 9 hours ago
By 4 parts freshwater to 1 part saltwater

There's a few engineering challenges to overcome. You can't just plant this in a salt marsh,
you have to dilute the sea water with fresh water (and likely dilute it a LOT). So there's
infrastructure and a fresh water source required to do that.
[] neutralvoter 99 points 12 hours ago
Dilute it 5x it sounds like:

"The seawater rice developed by Yuan and other research teams is not irrigated by pure
seawater, but mixes it with fresh water to reduce the salt content to 6 grams per litre. The
average litre of seawater contains five times as much salt"
[] Billmarius 106 points 12 hours ago
Soil salinity is already a huge problem. I'm wondering why on earth we would want to
make it worse by irrigating crops with brackish water?
"David Pimentel and his colleagues at Cornell a couple decades ago actually
crunched the numbers and went through how much of the world's soil has been
degraded by agricultural activity since the Second World War and what they came
up with is that some 430 million hectares of land around the world that was once
farmed has been abandoned from farming due to soil degradation. That's an area
that's equivalent to about a third of all present cropland."
-David Montgomery, University of Washington Professor of Geomorphology
KUOW: What's geomorphology and why does it matter?
The UN report brings some fairly astonishing findingshis team estimates that
2,000 hectares of farmland (nearly 8 square miles) of farmland is ruined daily by
salt degradation. So far, nearly 20 percent of the worlds farmland has been
degraded, an area approximately the size of France.
VICE: Salt Is Turning Farmland Into Wasteland Around the World
Smithsonian Magazine: Earths Soil Is Getting Too Salty for Crops to Grow
Oregon State University: Salinization
UC Davis: Salinity in the Colorado River Basin
Potassium Nitrate Association: Effect of salinity on crop yield potential
"So, that is why I call all of the above coping. It is better to do those things than
not do them but do not suffer under the delusion that such practices are
going to reclaim salty ground."
GrainNews: Soil salinity: causes, cures, coping
Scientific American: Only 60 Years of Farming Left If Soil Degradation Continues
Popular Science: We need to protect the world's soil before it's too late
[] loscrimmage 139 points 12 hours ago
Probably lost in translation. The purpose is to use fresh water and plant the rice on
virgin land that was saline (e.g. flooded by sea water once). Rice is salt water
tolerant, but does not require salt water.
Nobody in the right mind will use seawater. It adds more salt to the soil.
More because very few plants, and almost no food-source plants that can
produce at a commercially viable level, can actively grow in pure sea water. It's
just TOO salty.
Actually I think the whole project was targeting high-salinity soil, a lot of
them are not close to sea, but could be part of a sea in the ancient times.
So there is often no feasibility to access seawater for irrigation.
I get that. Probably should have quoted you as my comment was only in
regard to your last paragraph "Nobody in their right mind will use
seawater. It adds more salt to the soil".
A point though is if you keep flushing that soil consistently with water at
20% of sea salinity, it won't increase in salinity. It won't decrease
either, but the salt won't build up. So if the land is otherwise useless
and there's no danger of polluting an aquifer or runoff site, it's possible
to set up shop and farm there for a while, at least until the soil is
exhausted of the nutrients that sea water won't provide.
[] borkborkborko 13 points 11 hours ago
Algae/seaweed are some of the most common food items. The sea is a
perfectly viable source of vegetables, though most of it tastes the same.
[] neutralvoter 62 points 12 hours ago
"But the biggest challenge to the seawater rice project was that China now had a surplus of
rice.
China is not in food shortage any more, he said."
[] Pleberal 13 points 9 hours ago

They could still free up land for other uses, especialy if they want more meat.
Cost will go down once it is commercialized. The real cost in food production is labor.
That's no longer true when farms become big enough. Infrastructure, irrigation,
transportation and (for a lot of crops) fertilizer and pesticides far outstrip labour costs
when your farms reach a certain point.
[] neverspeakofme 7 points 11 hours ago
Exactly, but small scale experimental farms cannot make use of large scale machinery
and internal economies of scale, and have to use labour, thus the cost per-unit is high.
[] RomeoDog3d 6 points 10 hours ago*
This guy plays farming simulator 2017

[] MadafakerJones 58 points 11 hours ago
Game changer indeed no need to season the rice, just add egg and veggies fry it up and the
ting goes boom.
[] DramaticaUnknwn 28 points 10 hours ago
ting goes SKKRAA

FTFY
[] schneidrew 7 points 11 hours ago
Yeah that doesn't worry me much. Prices come down as the technology is refined and new
farming processes are developed. Most new technologies start at many, many times the cost
of their current substitutions.
[] aslak123 5 points 11 hours ago
Well, normal rice is like the least expensive food in the world.
[] Leitos 1210 points 13 hours ago
Liu Guangfei, a wasteland treatment expert at Beijing-based Eagle Green Technology

Development, said Yuans rice could not be planted in inland provinces such as Heilongjiang
and Xinjiang, which had more than 90 per cent of the saline and alkaline soils in China.
The chemical composition of inland soil varied significantly from that on the coast, he said.
Yuans rice was mainly resistant to sodium chloride, but waste land in inland areas had high
levels of sodium sulphate, which could be detrimental to the rice.
He also doubted whether planting rice would be of long-term benefit in treating waste land.
Planting this rice will keep the land salty forever, he said. It cannot be used to grow other
crops.
Liu said there were other commercial plants that could survive in such soils, such as jujube and
wolfberry, that could significantly reduce salt water levels in fields after a few years of fresh
water irrigation. But the biggest challenge to the seawater rice project was that China now had
a surplus of rice.
China is not in food shortage any more, he said.
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[] leonfook 475 points 11 hours ago
Wasteland Treatment Expert

That's the first time i heard of that title. That's a pretty nice title.
[] Conservative_Pleb 120 points 11 hours ago
better than a waste treatment expert

[] bacon4dayz 92 points 10 hours ago
Better than a waste like me

[] mrducky78 39 points 9 hours ago
2meirl4meirl
[] hobskhan 11 points 8 hours ago
Out here, rice, rice never changes...

[] orlyfactor 5 points 7 hours ago
Pro Fallout Player

[] PressAltF4ToContinue 107 points 10 hours ago
So, not nearly as wonderful as people are being led to believe, and as u/the_original_Retro
mentions...
But it's important to point out that this is only "SOMEWHAT SALTY water cultivation", not
actual "seawater cultivation".
You need to cut one part sea water with four parts fresh water for this stuff to grow. It's
not like you can just pump water in from the coast and use it directly.
I'd hope this stuff remains on the coasts as there's little to no infrastructure to bring seawater
inland, but then I read this part...
Despite the hefty price tag, six tons of the strain have been sold since August, thanks to its
impressive flavor and texture.
In addition, consumers are reportedly keen on its potential health benefits.
Just as palm oil cultivation causes problems elsewhere, giving over land to this premium rice
ruins that land for growing anything else, making this just another environmental disaster in
the making for the pursuit of profit.
[] CaptainUnusual 27 points 6 hours ago
On the other hand, it could be a very useful way to utilize farmland that gets ruined by
saltwater intrusion, which is a growing problem as sea levels rise.
[] Leaves_Swype_Typos 191 points 10 hours ago
He also doubted whether planting rice would be of long-term benefit in treating waste land.
Planting this rice will keep the land salty forever, he said. It cannot be used to grow
other crops.
That's terrible; projections for Chinese saltiness were already exploding with the growth of
Hearthstone.
[] NikEy 28 points 11 hours ago
jujube and wolfberry???

[] tommos 64 points 11 hours ago
Jujube is a type of date. I've had them fresh and they taste sorta like a tangy sweet apple
with a crisp crunchy texture. Not as juicy as eating an apple though.
[] the_kid_from_limbo 29 points 11 hours ago
The only dates I know of are ones with my mum on valentines day. How do these ones
compare?
[] tommos 78 points 11 hours ago
Less fishy.
[] SpaceLordLeoric 21 points 10 hours ago
MY GOD, HE HAD A FAMILY.

[] INHALE_VEGETABLES 8 points 10 hours ago
But still quite nutty.

[] Leoofvgcats 18 points 9 hours ago*
Both are semi-staples of the Chinese snack diet. Both don't require a buttload of water or
super fertile land.
Jujube are like dates a little smaller than ping pong balls. Fresh ones are often served as
snack fruit, especially to guests, since they're a smaller serving than a whole apple. Not
overly sweet, which is great, but not super juicy either. Crisp and crunchy texture, tiny
oval pit in the middle.
Wolfberries are little orange-red berries a little smaller than the first limb of your pinky.
Tastes sweet and ever so slightly medicinally bitter. Dried ones in sweet congee or flower
jelly are the bomb. Plus it helps your skin or something. I swear Wolfberries were once
related to cacti or something; the plant in my California backyard survived the drought for
5 years with minimum watering, and 4 month with no water before we moved in. One
moment it looks like it's dead, the next it's covered in juicy red dots.
[] iprefertau 1711 points 13 hours ago

but kinda not
/s
does this mean i wont have to add salt later?
[] GOATSQUIRTS 389 points 11 hours ago
Posting here to find out the non meme answer later

[] adenzila 69 points 11 hours ago
me2
[] mwpfinance 97 points 10 hours ago*
Maybe. Known salt tolerant plants such as beets and celery are known for their "naturally
occurring sodium." It would seem that the salt content of such plants increase with soil salinity
(which I suppose is obvious).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01904169909365614
I found another source for genetically modified tomatoes which had an increased amount of
transport proteins for the increased vacuolization of salt (basically putting salt in a bag in their
cells), so the salt content would obviously go up. If this is what the rice is doing, then I would
believe that salinity would definitely go up.
http://grounds-mag.com/mag/grounds_maintenance_research_update_scientists/
However, it might be possible that only the salt contents of the leaf would increase and not
actually the grain itself. Most of the articles I'm finding specifically point out increased sodium
in the leafs of plants, but not necessarily the parts we eat.
[] ks501 988 points 13 hours ago
So we can all agree that if Waterworld happens it's basically fine now, yeah?
Nah. The rice grows IN water, not UNDER water.

[] ks501 310 points 13 hours ago
What if there's Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner also does not grow under water.

[] metahivemind 130 points 13 hours ago
Kevin Costner could float on the water, and then plant the rice on Kevin?
Would make for a pretty slow movie.

[] severe_neuropathy 124 points 12 hours ago
Even compared to Waterworld?

Fair point.
[] Afa1234 26 points 11 hours ago
Just have floating grow beds

[] BobTheSkrull 10 points 11 hours ago
Could we grow the floating beds?

[] Afa1234 17 points 11 hours ago
You can do what ever you set your mind to buddy.

[] sparky_sparky_boom 403 points 13 hours ago
There's a meme going around Chinese websites that what makes the Chinese special is being able
to grow crops anywhere.
[] poopellar 236 points 13 hours ago
That's why they are so eager to get to the moon.

[] MusicforEarthworms 149 points 11 hours ago
How can they grow moon rice if the moon is already made of cheese?
[] ossahib 57 points 11 hours ago
Hmmmmm.. wensleydale
[] Magneticitist 37 points 9 hours ago
that's ricist
[] thegriefer 5 points 7 hours ago
Yeah, but having that sea movement bonus is so much better over time considering the map
has a lot of water.
[] OnFireAppleSiesta 89 points 12 hours ago
Cool, so now the post apocalypse will have rice.

[] CaptainLord 8 points 8 hours ago
You mean you can't escape to the seas when persued by mutant rice?
[] the_original_Retro 579 points 13 hours ago*
It sounds like excellent progress is being made to introducing and extending a staple food
source's availability. But I'm a little concerned about statements like this one in the article:
"The strain could be rich in calcium and other micronutrients, as such are abundant in saline
water"
They are already selling it but they don't know that yet?
And there's this:
The property of salt as a disinfectant could also repel pathogenic bacteria, making sea rice
less exposed to pests. As a result, farmers may decrease their use of pesticides.
Bacteria isn't really a problem in rice, and it's not killed by pesticides at all.
There's some really bad science in this article, possibly due to a low-quality translation to english
by whoever posted it to the source site.
[] cielsbleus 337 points 12 hours ago
This is a common problem with non-scientists trying to describe research to more casual
audiences. I'm sure the people who have successfully genetically engineered plants to grow in
salt water know what they're doing.
Yeah me too, but it's not that hard to at least get some of the very basics correct. This
article screams of "hack job".
[] MechanicMonkey 67 points 11 hours ago
Top 5 Things China Is Secretly Growing In Saltwater

[] I-POOP-RAINBOWS 41 points 10 hours ago
1) Godzilla 2) Math 3) Bruce Lee 4) ??? 5) Coal

[] EliQuince 20 points 9 hours ago
4 has got to be rice, right?

[] doritosNachoCheese 9 points 9 hours ago
It's not a secret.

[] sunburn95 332 points 10 hours ago
This sort of thing is what people don't think of when trashing GMO's
[] TanktopSamurai 47 points 9 hours ago*
Kurzgesagt, in his video about GMO, said that what most people aren't really against GMO,
they are against the modern agriculture industry.
[] ArleiG 45 points 7 hours ago
Most people that are against GMO don't even know what those letters stand for.
[] rockaroni 30 points 6 hours ago
Yes and those same people tout the non-gmo as some sort of health benefit. I dont
understand how that movement even got steam.
[] ArleiG 17 points 6 hours ago
The same way as the anti-vaxxers...

[] Snrub1 5 points 5 hours ago
Acronyms are scary

[] ejoy-rs2 12 points 6 hours ago
there was some kind of survey in germany and most people said that a normal potato
doesn't contain any genes, and only genetically modifed potatos have genes. People don't
really know much about the subject and are afraid of said "genes" as a result ( I can't
blame them. I am a biologist myself but not everybody understands genetics. Wouldn't
expect them to)
[] csert 7 points 5 hours ago
Over 80 percent of Americans support mandatory labels on foods containing DNA

(A similar proportion, incidentally, supports mandatory labeling of GMOs.)
[] ProfessorJNFrink 75 points 10 hours ago
People thrashed golden rice, though. So much so that it hasnt helped as many as it could
have. So it is, unfortunately, while people talk about Monsanto and unrelated topics. (And now
Ill probably be called a shill...)
[] CreamyGoodnss 129 points 10 hours ago
It's possible to be pro-GMO and anti-Monsanto.

[] ProfessorJNFrink 24 points 10 hours ago
Not on the internet!

[] clev3rbanana 49 points 9 hours ago
Agreed. Fuck Monsanto, I don't mind GMOs though.

[] M0ngisgod 76 points 11 hours ago
China invents rice.

[] GoDM1N 20 points 8 hours ago
The anti gmo people are going to be salty over this.

[] Hanoverview 19 points 9 hours ago
YAY GMO ! saving people again !

[] SYLOH 114 points 13 hours ago
10/10 with salty rice.

[] Syd_G 191 points 10 hours ago
Who is this China guy that's inventing stuff lately?

Why is it that when China invents something it's always "China invents .......". Imagine what the
title would sound like if it had "America invents .......".
[] CockyKokki 198 points 9 hours ago
"America invents double obesity!"

[] alt_generic_acct 27 points 8 hours ago
'Ever thought you couldn't be more obese? You thought wrong!'

[] sakmaidic 9 points 6 hours ago
kill one fat people , feed one hundred

[] sarahzmz 79 points 9 hours ago
If the news is international, the reporter usually makes the headlines as Country does
something. If the News is domestic, the headline would be more detailed like mentioning the
name. It would be America invents... for Chinese news. Its just to grab attention since China
is more relevant for American reader than a random name...also If you read the article you
will know who exactly invented it, but of course you didnt.
[] ripster65 12 points 12 hours ago
Only 200,000,000 served? I guess it's "limited time only" like the McWeb. Go figure.
[] Thekillersofficial 12 points 10 hours ago
Shout out to rice, beans, and all the other food staples that stop the human race from going
extinct
[] MenionIsCool 57 points 13 hours ago
But does it taste good over rice?

[] Demosthenes_was_here 29 points 11 hours ago
I mean... if there's a country that's going to make a breathtaking discovery in rice related
technology its probably going to be China.
[] justaskunk 49 points 13 hours ago
How can I invest in this

[] spencewah 83 points 11 hours ago
Buy and hold salt water

[] knowhate 49 points 10 hours ago
Heads to the beach with a bucket

[] programming_student1 7 points 10 hours ago
Pees in a bucket
[] brett6781 7 points 9 hours ago
/r/wallstreetbets
[] Jisifus 48 points 11 hours ago
Gonna be hard for Greenpeace to burn down all the saltwater

[] filekv5 8 points 8 hours ago
So let me get this straight. They planted 200 rice types. Thry diluted the salt water. Found out
that 4 types of rice yelded more and comercialized it. Where is the invention here? I was under
the impression they made the only salt resistant rice somewhere in India.
[] BarelyRegal1 46 points 12 hours ago
Can't wait for Greenpeace to get this program cancelled!

[] WhatEvery1sThinking 31 points 10 hours ago
That would require Greenpeace to have any kind of power or influence

[] BraveSirRbn 24 points 10 hours ago
They're good at spreading FUD. C.f. "Golden Rice"

[] yangyangR 7 points 9 hours ago
Wasn't Golden Rice open source so the entire criticism of monopolies was worthless?
Monopolies on the DNA of said GMO is the only real criticism I can think of.
[] BraveSirRbn 6 points 8 hours ago
I don't think that was their problem with it. More like "hurr durr this is GMO so it
must be evil"
[] Hygienic_Sucrose 15 points 10 hours ago
They've destroyed GM crops in research before

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-14/20110714-greenpeace-gm-protest/2794272
[] SirLagg_alot 13 points 10 hours ago

/s
yeah... but those awful GMO's have to be stopped
[] DrakeLoseEast 19 points 12 hours ago
Thanks China.
[] quantumphilisp 27 points 11 hours ago
Is it gmos ? Because greenpeace will try to stop this. They prefer to see people dying than to have
to educate themselves and stop spreading pseudoscience ( see the golden rice fiasco)
[] Enolator 8 points 9 hours ago
I saw a couple other discussions on some of the smaller subReddits, wherein readers have
suggested it was done through breeding programs over several decades. It seems the original
strains could not be used because the yield was too weak. Whereas this article is suggesting
that the breakthrough is in finding a hybrid with good yield. Iirc, they found the original
strains in mangroves in South East China. Still...hopefully if it reaches mainstream news, we'll
get a better grasp of it.
[] HackJammer 4 points 7 hours ago
That rice can grow in League of legends players tears thats cool
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China Invents Rice That Can Grow in Salt Water

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10/24/2017 China Invents Rice That Can Grow in Salt Water, Can Feed Over 200 Million People

d Over 200 Million People : worldnews

Seems like this could potentially be a game changer -

refined over thousands of years. 36,997 users here now

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For anyone wondering about the NEW! Filter North Korea

Yuan Mi, however, costs 50 yuan ($7.50)

I spent the longest time not knowing how

altar of the metric God and live in Feature stories

"miles" has mostly died out, but

Britain is easily the weirdest

They use both,

[] datarancher 31 points 4 hours ago

And they're different pints!

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[] funkyymonk 740 points 11 hours ago

[] thyusername 853 points 11 hours ago

Every once in a while you lose a Mars Orbiter too

[] zedlx 318 points 10 hours ago

Almost caused a plane crash too:

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Nasa uses metric.

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Or have to repair a space telescope in space because of it.

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[] r4garms 152 points 10 hours ago

I needed a washer to secure a number plate to the rear of my

[] HairlessWookiee 67 points 8 hours ago

continue this thread

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Wait what? Only imperial? To the point of being rude? In

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FMD? Fuck my dick? Fuck my dad? Fucking mad dude???

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[] TatersThePotatoBarn 64 points 10 hours ago

If you're producing anything with an offset as small as .13mm you

[] versacepython- 13 points 8 hours ago

Most things in our shop are 5 thou or tigher. Factory I worked

[] RegularPhil 34 points 10 hours ago

.13mm isn't extremely small tolerance

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[] antsugi 37 points 10 hours ago

I turned my scale to kilograms. I'm doing my part!

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[] Lysol1996 40 points 11 hours ago

Interesting I run CNC machine and if I switched the parameter to

[] bartlovepuch 9 points 9 hours ago

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As a metric lad in an imperial world, I sympathise. Ask me how

[] gamotosou 10 points 7 hours ago

Imperial here. I often keep in mind that our liquor is sold

of a gallon. That certainly seems to set me up for guestimating

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[] threedux 33 points 8 hours ago