Rice

Rice is the single most important source of energy for humans. It accounts for over 20% of calories eaten worldwide and is linked to the livelihoods of about one-fifth of the world’s population – over 1 billion people. Yet, it also one of the most carbon-intensive carbohydrates.

Of course, its impact is small compared to animal products. A glass of milk has almost twice the carbon footprint of a portion of rice, and a beef burger over 23 times.

However, rice produces 2.8 times as much greenhouse gas emissions per serving as pasta and 7.5 times as much as potatoes. It is, therefore, a paradox, both central to food security and a contributor to climate breakdown. 

The impact of rice on the climate

Rice cultivation is estimated to account for 2.5% of current warming and at least 10% of all agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Its impact is partially accounted for by the sheer scale of its consumption, as a staple food for half of the world’s population.

Nonetheless, rice has a much higher impact than other carbohydrates, because its production releases large amounts of methane. 

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas trapping 25 times more heat than CO₂ over a 100 year period. The amount of methane in the atmosphere has significantly increased in recent years, and climate experts suggest that increasing rice cultivation is likely to be a significant factor. The gas is produced by bacteria that live in the flooded paddy fields. It escapes via gas spaces in the rice plants’ roots and stems and then bubbles up through the soil and water to escape into the atmosphere.

Rice production also accounts for one-third of global water use. Often, more water is used than required due to poor irrigation, not only exacerbating the methane emissions from paddy fields; but leaving farmers vulnerable to the ever more frequent risk of drought.

The impact of climate change on rice farmers

Sadly, the dependency on water is just one way in which rice farmers are particularly vulnerable to climate change. 

Rising temperatures, the growing frequency of natural disasters and the increasing unpredictably of weather patterns mean that this vital food source is increasingly uncertain.
 Rice yields are predicted to fall 10% by 2050. Scientists also suggest that the actual nutritional value of rice will fall as a result of climate change, putting the poorest members of the world’s population more at risk of malnutrition.

The climate vulnerability of rice has been exacerbated in recent decades as farmers have been encouraged to produce single crop types. Many types of rice seed have been lost, most likely including important climate-resilient varieties.  

Of 200,000 peasant varieties previously thought to exist in India, following the Green Revolution only 1% remains.

Industrial seed varieties require more synthetic chemicals than indigenous types. The production of rice already accounts for at least one-seventh of fertiliser use globally.

Fertilisers can have serious knock-on ecosystem effects, for example leaching into water systems and affecting aquatic life. Synthetic chemicals also threaten bee populations. 

In many places, seed banks are trying to address these problems, collecting thousands of different varieties of seed, which are stored, tested and used by local farms.

 The Sahaja Samrudha seed bank in India wrote for us about their work and the Save our Rice campaign and why it is necessary.

Table Highlights

Positive marks

Many of the brands in the table received either full or half positive Company Ethos marks for:
- being owned by entirely organic [O], fair trade [F], vegetarian [V] or vegan [Vg] companies:

• Biona [O, V]
• Clearspring [O, Vg]
• Essential [V]
• Infinity [V]
• True Origin (was Kilombero) [F]
• Suma [V]

- being owned by companies providing only environmental alternatives: Organico
- being co-operatives or mutuals: Essential, Suma, Infinity, Waitrose, Co-op
- or having not-for-profit trading structures: True Origin (was Kilombero)

Fairtrade and Organic products also received a positive Product Sustainability mark, indicated by [F] and [O] on the table.

Tax Avoidance

Unfortunately, many of the companies also received our worst rating for likely use of tax avoidance strategies and lost a full mark under Anti-Social Finance: 

• Amira, 
• Hain Celestial (Akash and Tilda brands),
• John Lewis,
• Marks & Spencer,
• Morrisons, 
• Orvalley Corporation (Gallo brand),
• Sainsbury, 
• Tesco, 
• Varma Trust (Ashoka, Badshah, Rozana, and Veetee brands),  
• Wal-Mart (Asda).

Price comparison

Ranking of fairtrade and organic rice prices. 

‘Sustainable’ growing options

Farmers, communities and NGOs around the world have long been looking for ways to make rice more sustainable. Over the decades, different options have been tested; yet the evidence remains uncertain.

If periodically drained, for example, rice paddies will release less methane. However, drained paddies may instead emit greater levels of nitrous oxide, another potent GHG, especially if too much fertiliser has been used.

Many smallholders have also tested what is known as a System of Rice Intensification (SRI) as a means to cut emissions. First explored in the 1980s in Madagascar, SRI is suggested to significantly increase the yield of rice fields, as well as reduce the amount of water and number of seeds required. It focuses on improving soils and the health of plants rather than altering seed. SRI involves using organic matter rather than artificial fertilisers; weeding between plants, and planting in wet rather than flooded paddies.

Traditional farming methods in Southern China may also show a more sustainable way forward.

The paddy fields provide ecosystems for fish, which in turn reduce reliance on artificial pesticides and fertilisers as they eat pests and create a natural nutrient cycle.

Initial research suggests that the presence of fish can also help to reduce methane emissions, as they encourage the presence of methane oxidising bacteria. At the same time, they offer a significant source of protein for farmers, potentially reducing reliance on rice itself. 

Rice miles

Rice is often shipped many miles to arrive in the UK, as many varieties can only be produced in hot climates. 

Often, the country of origin will be marked on the side of the rice packet. However, if not it is possible to guess rice miles from the variety, out of the following three types:

• indica rices are long-grained varieties generally grown in the Tropics, often Asia e.g. China and India, as well as African countries.
• japonica rices are short-grained and sticky varieties generally grown in temperate climates such as USA and Japan, but also possible to grow in Europe.
• javanica rices are long, bold grained rices grown in Indonesia.

You might want to consider choosing a locally-grown short grained (japonica) rices if you live in the UK or America, and long-grained varieties if you live in Asia. We couldn’t find any information on the proportion of emissions from shipping, however, and it seems likely that it will be small considering the impact from growing methods themselves. 

The companies that responded to our questionnaire sourced rice from the following countries:

• Clearspring: Italy, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Uruguay, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Romania, Greece, Spain, South America, Canada, USA
• Just Trading Scotland (True Origin brand): Malawi
• Organico: Italy
• Suma: majority from Italy, some from India
• Windmill Organics (Biona brand): Italy, France

Buying ‘sustainable’ rice

Buying the most sustainable rice does not currently seem to be an option in the UK.

Very little information could be found about the rice production methods used by those who supply the companies covered in this guide, with the exception of those that offer organic rice products. And even organic certification does not ensure practices such as mid-season drainage are used. 

However, a few of the companies did respond to our questionnaire about the measures their rice producers have taken to reduce environmental impacts, suggesting that there is a growing awareness about the need to change production methods.

Mars Foods, owner of the Seeds of Change and Uncle Ben’s brands, has also said that it will source 100% sustainable rice by 2020, based on the first ever global standard for sustainable rice, launched by the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP).

The SRP is a multi-stakeholder partnership, which works “to promote resource efficiency and sustainability” in global rice supply chains.

The current members include government agencies and research institutes, rice traders and environmental and social NGOs, including Bayer, Mars Foods, Tilda, Veetee Rice and Fairtrade International. Its standard is being piloted, but no company appears to have so far met its criteria.

Reducing rice consumption instead, and opting for local and lower carbon staples like wheat or barley, is another step we can make toward reducing our individual carbon footprints, although it is a tiny issue compared to the production of animal products.  And it must obviously be weighed against the impact on rice farmers worldwide. 

If you are buying rice, going for an organic option will at least help. 

Buying brown varieties will also slightly reduce your impact, by cutting out some of the processing needed to produce white rice — removing the bran and polishing the grains. 

Another consideration is packaging. More and more places are providing refill options, which cut out packaging altogether.

If you can’t find a refill near you, buying in bulk can help cut down on packaging. Unfortunately, none of the brands that we looked at for this guide seemed to sell rice in paper packaging. 

Workers’ rights

The majority of rice is farmed by smallholders. In Asia, where about 90 per cent of all rice is grown,  there are more than 200 million rice farms, most of which are smaller than one hectare.

Many smallholders rent their land and machinery as well as paying for the seeds and agrichemical inputs used.

This often leaves rice farmers vulnerable to exploitation from those who lend them money or inputs, who are often the same traders that will buy their rice crop after harvest.

Rice workers also face multiple health problems. Skin diseases and infections are common from standing in water for long days, often full of leeches and corrosive chemicals. 

The ammonia from fertiliser used can cause glaucoma, an eye condition that leads to sight loss if untreated. Fumes from other chemicals can affect the lungs, and back problems from days bent over are commonplace.

Many of these issues are becoming exacerbated in the face of climate change. As yields go down and weather patterns become increasingly uncertain and extreme, smallholders have less of a safety net to protect them.

Buying ‘fairer’ rice 

Only one of the products on our table, Kilombero rice, is marketed as fairly traded.

There are lots of reasons why Fairtrade certification has been so slow into the rice market. Strong trade relations between Europe and the US, for example, where there are subsidies for rice farmers, make our market a hard one for small farmers to access. Indeed, Europe is a comparatively small market for rice, making it less worthwhile for farmers to pursue European Fairtrade accreditations. Fairtrade has also traditionally had stronger relations with farmers in Latin America, where rice is not a staple crop. 

Organic certification from the Soil Association includes some workers’ rights protections, requiring farmers to comply with the ten core ILO Conventions, covering areas such as child labour, forced labour and discrimination, however, it does not put emphasis on policing this.

Some specific sustainable rice growing practices may also have benefits in terms of workers’ rights. 

Not only, for example, does SRI help limit rice’s climate impacts and therefore the associated threat of worsening conditions for rice farmers, it allows farming to take place in damp rather than flooded paddy fields, reducing the risk of water-borne diseases and infections; and it reduces the need for transplantation of seedlings, thus limiting the amount of work that places strain on the back.