As with cows, the problem is burps — lots and lots of tiny burps. Growing rice requires flooding fields, called paddies, with staggering quantities of water. Microbes known as archaea multiply ...

We used to grow our dinner staple in the city’s countryside, until farmers abandoned their paddies to find less back-breaking jobs with better pay. Recently though, homegrown rice has been ...

to take on the task of tending to vacant rice paddies. Once rice seeds have been planted by a drone, a succession of robotic technologies still to be developed would deal with weeding and reaping.