At the Rice Research Institute in Gilan, I met Mr Rezai, an irrigation engineer who believes it is essential to look at the wider picture if the rice farmers are to sustain production.

BBC: Iran drought hits rice farmers

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said in a blog post that "even where the soil is contaminated with a lead spill, a number of studies have shown that rice plants do not take up a significant amount of lead and move it to the grains".

BBC: Study of lead levels in rice under scrutiny

Houston is the fastest-growing and most ethnically diverse metropolitan area in the country, says Stephen Klineberg, co-director of Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

WSJ: At the Houston Grand Opera, It's Alto, Bass, Tenor, Sombrero

Three of them, in a paper last December for the International Food Policy Research Institute, looked specifically at the prospects for genetically modified rice in India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

FORBES: Magazine Article