5 ms·

I have one concern though. What happens to nutrients content of this rice over time? I mean with our current practices the land gets enough time to produce qual

I have one concern though. What happens to nutrients content of this rice over time? I mean with our current practices the land gets enough time to produce quality rice for another year. If we are going perenial what happens to soil and rice quality?

anon84873628 3y ago
Well, what is the answer to that question for all the other perennial crops we eat? Tree nuts, tree fruits, coconuts, berries, asparagus, artichoke...
giraffe_lady 3y ago
As I understand it the result of monoculture soil damage is not in detectable nutrition of the crop but less yield due to reduced hardiness, slower growing, susceptibility to pests & pathogens. I know very little about rice cultivation but the flooded fields system has very different cycles and feedback from dry land grain cultivation. It varies a lot by region but rice paddies are entire ecosystems, with specific fish & eels introduced to control pests and enrich the fields. At least for the first few years iirc rice cultivation itself actually somewhat terraforms the land, improving it for rice cultivation. I'm sure there are drawbacks, caveats, and limits on that but I don't know what they are. I suspect you'd need to be a dedicated rice crop expert to have a truly informed understanding of it.
awesomeMilou 3y ago
Do riceplants absorb nutrients only via soil? I've always thought that they get at least part of their nutrients via the water that surrounds them. In that case controlling for nutrients would be much easier.
- xsmasher 3y ago
  Rice is not an aquatic plant; the water is used for weed control. California grows rice but they don't flood the fields.
tfourb 3y ago
Perennial plants are much more effective at extracting nutrients because of more established root systems. Not tilling the field also allows for complex plant/fungi communities to develop which will increase moisture and nutrient levels in the soil. Put simply: you don’t need to fertilize a forest or other naturally occurring ecosystems and those are built around perennial plants. The closer you get back to a functioning ecosystem, the less resist you’ll be on external inputs.

anon84873628 3y ago

Well, what is the answer to that question for all the other perennial crops we eat? Tree nuts, tree fruits, coconuts, berries, asparagus, artichoke...

giraffe_lady 3y ago

As I understand it the result of monoculture soil damage is not in detectable nutrition of the crop but less yield due to reduced hardiness, slower growing, susceptibility to pests & pathogens. I know very little about rice cultivation but the flooded fields system has very different cycles and feedback from dry land grain cultivation. It varies a lot by region but rice paddies are entire ecosystems, with specific fish & eels introduced to control pests and enrich the fields. At least for the first few years iirc rice cultivation itself actually somewhat terraforms the land, improving it for rice cultivation. I'm sure there are drawbacks, caveats, and limits on that but I don't know what they are. I suspect you'd need to be a dedicated rice crop expert to have a truly informed understanding of it.

awesomeMilou 3y ago

Do riceplants absorb nutrients only via soil? I've always thought that they get at least part of their nutrients via the water that surrounds them. In that case controlling for nutrients would be much easier.

xsmasher 3y ago
Rice is not an aquatic plant; the water is used for weed control. California grows rice but they don't flood the fields.

tfourb 3y ago

Perennial plants are much more effective at extracting nutrients because of more established root systems. Not tilling the field also allows for complex plant/fungi communities to develop which will increase moisture and nutrient levels in the soil. Put simply: you don’t need to fertilize a forest or other naturally occurring ecosystems and those are built around perennial plants. The closer you get back to a functioning ecosystem, the less resist you’ll be on external inputs.