The Environment and Rice

Environmental changes lowering yields of miracle rice
One could venture to say that a vast majority of the population eats rice on a regular basis. Rice is a food that is essential to maintaining the population in the world. In the 1960's the 'miracle rice' variety was developed and has been producing higher crop yields than any other variety. One of the advantages of genetically engineering crops are the higher yields but there is still the risk of genetic drift. When research showed that the 'miracle rice' had a 15% less yield than before people became concerned with genetics. Research now shows that the environmental changes are responsible for the decrease in yield. Changes in the environment can cause major problems with crop yields as well as for the population who rely on the crops. There are probably many solutions for this problem but where things stand now there is a cycle of decreasing crop yields. As the population increases, the environment most likely changes. As the environment changes, there are lower rice crop yields. This will continue until people start to die off from starvation,  a new rice variety created or people work to prevent a change in the environment.