Here is some more innovation from another local entrepreneur.
'Green' rice on menu
Farmers could profit from carbon offsets
By Jim Downing - jdowning@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, February 17, 2008
The war on global warming has entrepreneurs racing to find new ways to trim the carbon emissions linked to everything from wine to washing machines.
But Eric Rey was the first to see the promise of low-emissions rice.
In Davis, Rey's Arcadia Biosciences is crafting genetically modified rice that thrives on just half the typical dose of nitrogen fertilizer – a source of greenhouse emissions on a par with all the world's passenger vehicles.
By growing rice that needs less nitrogen, farmers would save money on fertilizer and plug into the booming global market in carbon offsets. Rey would be able to price his rice seed the same as conventional varieties and make a profit by taking a share of the carbon-credit revenue.
The environmental benefits of the rice would be enough to win over biotech skeptics, said Rey, a life member of the Sierra Club. In addition to cutting greenhouse gases, the rice has the potential to reduce nitrate pollution, a scourge of rivers and aquifers worldwide.
On the farms in rural China where he hopes to launch the plan and where he is focusing his efforts, Rey figures each acre planted with Arcadia's rice could yield close to one metric ton of carbon offsets, now trading at $22 a ton on European markets and expected to climb in the future. Even at current rates, the offsets alone would boost farmers' profits by as much as 25 percent.
