When Rice Shakes the World : The Importance of the First Grain to World Economic and Political Stability

For millennia, rice has sealed the fate of dynasties and kingdoms in Asia but has
only remained a cultural curiosity to Western financial markets. Today the
food and agricultural markets of India and China are in motion. The history
of agricultural change is littered with hunger, poverty and failure. Will
that curse pass itself on to this Asian generation? Or is there a brighter
future ahead of us? Now China is rapidly becoming the wealthiest country in
the world. China's water shortages and its rice market are fault lines that
finger their way beneath the surface of the world economy. These fault lines
are sending out tremors that could shake the entire world in the next few
years. Rice is a little grain but a big deal in Asia. The Great Wall of China
is cemented together with sticky rice. It uses up to 70% of the water
resources of China. Rice's 200,000,000 farms feed 3,000,000,000 people. Yet
it is grown on an area the size of France. Rice is the social cement of Asia
and the rice farms of Asia may crack that ancient cement. This book explains
the ancient yet curiously modern story of rice that binds feudal farms to the
new super cities across China. At the center of this story is the rice
farmer, whose backbreaking labor feeds millions. In the next 15 years,
millions of farmers must transition from landless serfs into modern business
people skilled in all the technologies and versed in market risk. The rice
world lies on the dark side of this digital earth. But that world is turning
rapidly towards the light.

MILO HAMILTON, Starting about three years ago, the author of this book grew concerned about the global impact of change from the rural rice markets in Asia. His concern as a world expert on rice led him to write this book; so others might know what could happen and what should happen as the East and the West collide.

For three decades Milo Hamilton has covered the world of rice for his customers. For 18 years he bought rice for Uncle Ben’s Inc., a Mars Incorporated company. For the last 14 years, his company, Firstgrain.com, has published a weekly newsletter that advises sophisticated rice firms and farmers on the market and its relationship to everything else. He has travelled throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Milo Hamilton lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Jan, and his little Pomeranian, Penney. He is surrounded by his children and their families.