How can we produce rice in a way that uses fewer resources and regenerates nature? In this episode Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Transforming Tradition series, we hear why a growing number of farmers around the world are changing the way they produce rice, by adopting an agroecological approach called the System of Rice Intensification (SRI).
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SRI Global News: February - April 2024 **sririce -- System of Rice Intensification
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Lotus Foods, the leading heirloom and organic rice company, is proud to announce that its traditional White and Brown Basmati Rice grown with SRI methods and sourced from family farmers in northern India, has qualified for Regenerative Organic Certified™ (ROC™) Silver. It is the first rice to achieve this rigorous new standard, which goes beyond existing Organic and Fair Trade certifications in promoting farming that enriches rather than degrades soil and values animals and workers.
Lotus Foods Co-Founder/Co-CEO Caryl Levine said "These farmers, who use System of Rice Intensification (SRI) methods, which we call More Crop Per Drop™, have demonstrated that it is very feasible to generate important economic and environmental benefits like increasing yields of traditional varieties, reducing water use and methane emissions and also be regenerative. 
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...A few years in, [Ken Lee and Caryl Levine of Lotus Foods] were introduced to a new method of rice farming, the System of Rice Intensification (SRI)—a more sustainable way to grow rice using less water, less seed, and no agrochemicals that results in a double yield for farmers. “Learning about SRI and seeing the benefits for people and the environment is when we realized that growing rice organically wasn’t enough, and that we had to rethink altogether how the world grows rice,” explains Levine. “We have to feed the increasing global population with less water, land, and labor. Especially water, our most precious resource.” And so that became their mission. Partnering with small-scale farmers in several countries, Lee and Levine worked to emphasize better growing practices by applying SRI methods, while also establishing fair and effective supply chains that would lessen environmental impact and create social and economic justice for farmers.
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...the co-founder and joint CEO of US company Lotus Foods, Caryl Levine, told delegates at the Sustainable Food Summit in Amsterdam last week [that] “Conventional rice production is just not sustainable. It uses between one quarter and one third of the world’s fresh water and there is a huge cost of input, which means many farmers are burdened with debt. There is an especially high impact on women. They do most of the physical activity in the paddy fields where they are exposed to parasites and water-borne diseases. After years of harvesting rice, many are unable to walk upright. This is not acceptable.”
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Since 1995, Lotus Foods has been partnering in fair trade with small family farmers around the world who are growing rice sustainably and preserving rice biodiversity. The company is paving the way to market for smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia who adopt the ecological method of rice cultivation known as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI).
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For decades Lotus Foods been spreading the word about a system that produces higher yields on fewer seeds with half the water, no chemical inputs and less labor
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This video by Lotus Foods was produced for the 3S Award Application during November 2016
SRI-Rice's insight:
Some great insights about SRI by Ken and Caryl.. and what they are doing to promote it in the the USA and around the world.
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To celebrate International Women’s Day, March 8, and World Water Day, March 22, we want to share some insights from Emily’s personal journey and why changing rice production to more regenerative practices... For the Java area, usually to produce rice using non-SRI methods, it takes between 3000-4000 liters of water to grow 1 kilo of rice. Using SRI, we only need about 750 liters of water per kilo of rice. This is a dramatic difference. ... SRI is definitely more women friendly. Because it uses 90% less seedlings with single seedlings planted wider apart, women can save time when planting. The time saved is used to gather food for their animals which are valuable sources for compost and extra income. Now they can expand their livestock numbers. Also, the women have less skin disease because they are not working in flooded fields and have fewer cases of malaria.
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Hard to believe that Lotus Foods, a US-based organic rice importer who has been sourcing SRI rice from farmers in Africa and Asia since 2005, has been in the business of preserving rice biodiversity for 25 years! Let's help them celebrate! Read more about Lotus Foods and their founders, Ken and Caryl, in this brochure.
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"Integrating Climate-Smart Rice Agriculture in Supply Networks - Lotus Foods' Experience," a presentation by Olivia Vent, Lotus Foods SRI Liaison, on October 8, 2019, at the 5th Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture 2019 held in Jimbaran, Bali, Indonesia
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Lotus Foods received an award for Outstanding Value Chain Engagement for its commitment to the development and implementation of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) production within its supply chain, including supplier training consumer education about SRI’s benefits. By keeping the soil in rice fields moist and fertile but not flooded, SRI production significantly increases crop yields, cuts water needs and reduces methane gas (one of the most potent contributors to climate change) emissions by a whopping 40%!
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"As founders of specialty rice company Lotus Foods, Ken Lee and Caryl Levine have provided international leadership in preserving rice biodiversity, promoting organic rice cultivation, and elevating awareness of the need to change how rice is grown around the world. In 2005, Lee and Levine learned through Cornell University about a better way to grow rice — and vowed to help it spread. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a set of practices and principles that enable even the poorest farmers to improve their yields just by changing how they manage their plants, soil, water, and nutrients. ...Since 2008, the company has been committed to working with farmers using these game-changing practices. Their pioneering development of supply chains with marginalized rice farmers — who previously never had access to global markets — and proactive education outreach have given consumers throughout North America access to healthier rice and a way to engage in solutions that contribute to a more sustainable future for our planet. ..."
SRI-Rice's insight:
Ken and Caryl, co-CEOs of Lotus Foods, won the Conscious Leaders Award for 2017 in the Global Impact category.
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Should the Philippines pursue rice self-sufficiency at all costs? Or must it focus, instead, on assuring food security and higher incomes for farmers that could bail them out of their moribund state of poverty? ...On competitiveness, former Agriculture Secretary Dar said we can never be competitive, as our production costs are as much as P11 to P12 per kilo, in contrast to Vietnam’s P6 to P7 per kilo, and Thailand’s P9 per kilo, as both enjoy vast flat lands naturally irrigated at virtually no cost by the huge Mekong River. Our focus must, therefore, be on food security and higher farmer incomes and not on self-sufficiency alone.
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