UK's First Rice Harvest Follows Hottest-Ever Summer

A once-unthinkable farming experiment is underway in Cambridgeshire, England, where ecologist Nadine Mitschunas is harvesting what's likely the UK's first homegrown rice crop. Mitschunas, working with local farmers Craig and Sarah Taylor, planted nine rice varieties from places as far-flung as Japan, Colombia, and Italy in four small paddy fields. The project, launched by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, is part of a broader effort to explore how British agriculture might adapt as the climate warms, the BBC reports.

Few expected rice could thrive in Britain, but this year's record-breaking heat—it was the hottest summer in the UK since records began in 1884—has helped the plants along. "Nobody has tried this before," Mitschunas says, adding that rice might become a fixture in local fields within a decade if warming trends persist. The trial doesn't stop at rice: other water-tolerant crops like lettuce and hybrid willow are also being tested, with an eye on future food security and sustainability.

Beyond diversifying crops, the team is also targeting environmental issues. The Cambridgeshire Fens, reclaimed marshlands known for rich peat soils, are a major vegetable-growing region but also a source of greenhouse gas emissions as those soils dry out. Flooding fields for rice might help lock away carbon, and early results suggest methane emissions from the paddies aren't offsetting those gains. Government officials are watching closely as the team explores whether such approaches could support both farming livelihoods and climate goals.

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It's still early days—rice won't be appearing on many UK dinner tables just yet—but Mitschunas and the Taylors believe these trials are a step toward reimagining British agriculture for a changing world. "We see that the future isn't stable. We want to be able to write our own destiny and not have it decided for us," Sarah Taylor tells the BBC. Skeptics include farmer Graham Denny, who isn't making much money from his wheat at the moment but has doubts about non-native crops, the Telegraph reports. "Farmers are looking at almost everything at the moment," he says. "But what are you going to do when 10,000 geese land on those paddy fields?"