Short answers, pulled from the story.
Asian rice was domesticated in China approximately 9,000 years ago between 13,500 and 8,200 years ago. This single domestication event involved Neolithic cultures in the Upper and Lower Yangtze who tamed the wild rice Oryza rufipogon.
The world produced 800 million tonnes of rice in 2023. This figure places rice third only to sugarcane and maize in global crop production.
Rice cultivation contributes to over 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with 2022 emissions estimated at 5.7 billion tonnes CO2eq. Methane released from flooded fields accounts for some 30% of agricultural methane emissions.
The International Rice Research Institute produced IR8, the first Green Revolution rice variety, in 1966. This variety was a cross between an Indonesian variety named Peta and a Chinese variety named Dee Geo Woo Gen.
Black rice known as forbidden rice looks dark purple due to high levels of anthocyanins and was once reserved for the royal family in ancient China. Golden rice is a genetically engineered variety produced to synthesize beta-carotene to help prevent Vitamin A deficiency.
Global rice yield is projected to decrease by around 3.2% with each 1°C increase in global average temperature. Rising temperatures and decreasing solar radiation have decreased rice yield by between 10% and 20% across 200 farms in seven Asian countries.