Why am I "watching the rice field"?

I've just submitted a Photo Gallery titled "Watching the rice field". But why? Well, rice is the great iconic food of Asia. But beyond that, I have a past professional interest in rice. As a chemical analyst with the CSIRO Division of Soils in the early 70's I worked with an Indonesian scientist (Edih Suwadji of Jakarta, whom I hope to meet again on a trip to Java). His project in Adelaide was to investigate trace and heavy metal uptake from soil to rice plant. We collected rice-growing soils from several sites in the Murrimbidgee Irrigation Area and conducted glasshouse trials with hundreds of pots with different combinations of radioactive tagged metals.

Edih never could quite appreciate why watering the flooded plants in a steamy glasshouse on a 40 degree Adelaide day was not a popular activity. I analysed hundreds, possibly thousands of soil and plant samples (roots, stalks, whole grain, rice husks, bran etc) for a range of metals.

In the late 70's I was a "reference analyst" (which meant I had a good reputation and my results were trusted) for an United Nations / FAO program to improve the zinc nutrition status of rice in several Asian and African countries.

During my 3 trips for Dept of Foreign Affairs to work with the Philippines Bureau of Soils it was hard to avoid rice. I ate it, spoke about its analytical challenges, and saw it everywhere. In 2004 David and I visited the Philippines. We visited the International Rice Research Institute and also toured "Rice World", a museum devoted to rice and its cultural importance arround the world. Our "rice highlight" was to visit the Banaue rice terraces in northern Philippines to see one of the great civil engineering projects of historic times. Thousands of kilometres of terraces were constructed between about 1500BC and 500 AD by people steadily working away with nothing more than wooden spades and levers. The scope of the work is truly amazing.

Famed rice terraces, Banaue, northern Philippines

As rice is usually associated with paddies and terraces in tropical Asian countries, it was a curiosity to see "arborio" rice growing in fields in northern Italy, in sight of the Alps. This is the special rice variety which Italians use for risotto. No other rice yields the right texture and results. In Torino our friend Giorgio took us to a rice restaurant which served nothing but rice dishes.

Those are my "rice connections". Here at the college in Dalung the rice fields literally come up to the college fence. Since my arrival on Fri 30th July I've watched with interest the small stepped field beside the college driveway. It was being harvested, and the grain winnowed when I arrived. Two days later the unwanted chaff trash was burnt and I knew it wouldn't be long before the crop harvest cycle began again. With fertile volcanic soils and regular rain the farmers can grow 3 crops of rice each year. The fields are not fallow for long at all. A few days ago I saw the water flooding the fields. Next day I saw the tractor in operation. Yesterday I watched as the farmer planted the rice seedlings into the lower parts of his fields. Today the work is finished and the harvest cycle starts again. Watching the largely manual work regime is a reminder of how hard the small farmers and their families have to work to produce their crops. Rice is very important in the traditional diet of the Balinese, just as it is through most of Asia. The folk here wonder how I could have a good and satisfying meal if doesn't include rice.

"My" special rice field beside the College driveway

Rice - you've just got to love it (or else you'll starve here!!)

Check the Photo Gallery "Watching the Rice Field". I'll update it as the plants grow.