Plant breeder Chris Deren is nearing the end of a quest that began nearly five years ago, inspired by his travels through Southeast Asia in the 1970s.
He has enjoyed the region's culinary delights, but the fragrant Thai jasmine rice, the pride of Thailand that is enjoyed by aficionados worldwide, holds a special place.
Fast forward to the present, and the genetics expert is growing the Thai rice in experimental plots at the University of Florida Everglades Research and Education Center, something once considered impossible due to climate.
His breeding breakthrough comes in the wake of another coup by the US rice industry. A Texas company has successfully won approval to patent certain varieties of long-grain aromatic Basmati rice traditionally grown in the Himalayan foothills.
The company beat off a challenge by India to win the right to patent its own basmati-like brands, sparking protests from Indian lawmakers who feared the country's export of 650,000 tonnes of Basmati rice each year would be affected.
Deren's rice plants have cleared key obstacles and are now able to be grown in the US. The original plants mature late and need extended sunshine, factors that didn't match up closely enough with US rice areas.
"The specifics of the Thai jasmine are that they are very late maturing because they are sensitive to photo period, or daylight," he said a telephone interview from Belle Glade, Florida.
"And the plants are tall," he added, "both of which are liabilities for our system of production."
"Without having something that flowers earlier, when there is more than 12 hours of daylight, it would be impossible to grow it in temperate and sub-tropical climates," he said.
He said tall plants, which pose no problems when the crop is harvested by hand, can tangle and fall over, making it difficult for mechanized harvesting used in the US.
So Deren set about trying to develop rice plants that mature early and are shorter in stature through two processes, gene mutation and conventional cross breeding.
The seeds of his experiment were sown while traveling through Southeast Asia some 30 years ago, but he says the results of his work have also brought on a personal dilemma.
"I am in a dilemma. I am very fond of Southeast Asia and its people. And I am very pleased Thailand has the benefit of having a product they can sell and is widely appreciated around the world and can bring them some good income," Deren said.
"I certainly don't want to take that away. At the same time in my interest as a plant breeder and interest in genetics and interest in this type of plant, I really enjoy working with this problem," Deren said.
Does it all add up to a runaway commercial success?
"As far as the marketing goes, one big question is: even if we were able to find a plant that would give a comparable product, could we grow it as economically as the Thais have," Deren said, tempering such speculation.
Thailand, the world's top rice exporter, produces about three million tonnes of jasmine rice a year and about 24 million tonnes of rice in total. The country sells the staple to 120 countries, earning some US$1.5 billion annually.
The US itself imports about 300,000 to 400,000 tonnes of Thai jasmine rice a year, Deren said.
Deren said the gene mutation method involves the use of gamma rays to make the plant mature early and grow less.
RSS