Introduction
Between the middle of the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, there was an extraordinary rise in agricultural output across the majority of the globe as a result of increased labor and land productivity. Among the many crops that have undergone change is rice. Rice is a ubiquitous staple food throughout most of the globe and is a seed from the grass species Oryza sativa. Additionally, after maize and sugarcane, the crop commodity has the third-highest global output overall. Worldwide productivity grew due to the rice revolution, which led to the adoption of new technologies and high-yielding rice varieties to eradicate dwarf rice. Also, use of chemical fertilizers, controlled water supply, and mechanization are some of the practices that supersede the traditional methods of farming.
Domestication and Cultivation of Rice
The domestication and cultivation of rice are among the essential events in history which have had the highest impact on most individuals. The time and place where rice was first domesticated are not well known although current evidence from the archaeologists outlines that in central China along the Yangtze River is where the cultivation first happened. The scientists from China and Japan identified the area through testing different samples of rice husks and grains which indicated their relation to thousands year's age. Other researchers have used genetic evidence to identify Pearl River a region in Ancient China as the place where the first domestication of rice occurred. The development of transplanting and planting of rice plant occurred in the wetlands of China spreading to other areas as an agricultural crop. Southeast Asia later adopted the concept of paddy rice farming during two thousand B.C. The wetland cultivation skills later spread to Indonesia and then Japan. Slowly rice farming was adopted in America, Africa, and Europe during the times of colonialism and exploration. In the United States, rice farming began during the seventeenth century in areas such as southern states and California.
Rice Farming in the United States
The United States experimented rice cultivation in wet Carolina and Georgia soil during 1694, and the area was fit for production. America obtains slaves from coastal Sierra Leone and West Africa. The slaves provided labor and knowledge from the rice culture especially Africans which was implemented in the rice plantations. The plantation owners later learned how to flood the fields and dyke the marshes periodically. Those days rice farming was laborious starting with the field practices, harvesting, and milling. Milling was done by use of hands, pestles, and mortars made of wood after which winnowing was done in sweetgrass baskets which were made with the skills brought by African slaves. The southeastern United Stated later became less profitable after the American Civil War due to loss of slaves and died out in the twentieth century. Rice has been grown in other parts of the United States such as east Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and southern Arkansas. The farmers planted rice in wet marshes and could even farm crayfish in times when the fields were flooded. Rice farming had begun in California when some Chinese workers arrived at the state and grew few grains for their domestic use. In 1912, commercial production began in the town of Butte and Rich Vale County. The current invention of rice mills which followed brought increases in productivity of the crop. Rice is subjected to milling a process that removes the husk that encloses the kernel and then subjected to the process of hulling and polishing. The shelling machine is also used to process the brown rice by removing the shell allowing the rice to retain the brawn layer on the kernel. The methods of rice farming have also improved with the use of fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides for fertility, pest, and disease control to increase the yields.
Rice Cultivation in the United States Today
Rice cultivation has been practiced in a big way in California and was second largest in production in the United States in 2006. In 2012 the estimated rice production was one hundred and ninety-nine million cwt, which is eight percent higher than 2011 production. States such as Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, California, and Arkansas account for over ninety-nine percent of the rice grown in the United States. There are more than one hundred varieties of rice grown in the world, and the United States commercially produces twenty varieties. The varieties are classified into short, medium, and long grains. The forms include regular milled white rice, parboiled, and brown rice. Rice from the United States is utilized domestically where fifty-eight percent is used for food, ten percent used for pet food, and sixteen percent used for beer and food processing. The aromatic varieties such as basmati and jasmine rice are imported from Pakistan, India, and Thailand since the evolution of such varieties has not occurred in the United States. There has been substantial demand for the imported rice due to the growth of the population of rice eating society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, rice revolution has had a remarkable impact on world food security since it is a staple food in most countries. Rice farming is vital in developing countries in issues of ending hunger, and thus appropriate measures should be used to maximize productivity. Farmers and scientists have played a critical role in developing appropriate technologies which are location specific to increase yields and minimize adverse effects on the environment. Rice breeding programs should be supported to generate rice with desirable characteristics for specific countries.
