Neil That’s right. Over half the world’s population eats rice as the staple food, especially in Asia. But rice is a very ...

where the majority of total cultivable land holds at least six crops, a large proportion of land is still allocated to thirsty crops. In India, the top three states with the highest area under ...

No-till farming in which the soil is left intact between harvests helps keep moisture in the soil, as does planting cover crops and rooting out thirsty weeds. Technology also helps, with soil ...

So it’s important to consider the business reasons why California farmers grow (or grew) thirsty crops. I’ve already devoted a whole column to rice; here, with some help from Henry Miller’s ...

As a crop that can be grown on every continent, we have come to rely on it heavily. But there’s a catch. Requiring waterlogged paddy fields to grow, rice is an extraordinarily thirsty crop.

But rice is a very ‘thirsty’ crop which needs lots of water to grow, and this is becoming a problem because of droughts and flooding caused by climate change. In this programme, we’ll be ...