Britain's first rice crop ripens in Cambridgeshire as climate-change farming trial progresses

Britain’s first rice crop ripe for picking after a record-hot summer is taking shape in four flooded paddies on a Cambridgeshire farm, part of a climate-focused experiment aimed at charting what Britain could grow in a warmer future. The project, led by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) in partnership with farmers Craig and Sarah Taylor, is not about a one-off novelty but about testing systems that could help Britain’s food supply under climate change. The fields lie a few miles north of Ely, where the Taylors opened up four mini paddies, dug into peat-rich land and flooded for the trial. The crop is still in its early stage, with grains turning from brown to white as harvest approaches later this year.

Nine varieties are being grown this year, spanning rice from Brazil, Colombia, Italy and the Philippines, including familiar culinary types such as risotto and basmati and other niche varieties used in sushi. Nadine Mitschunas, who helps lead the project and is widely described as the UK's first rice grower, says the plants are thriving and that the team is navigating calf-deep water as they monitor growth and development. “This is a serious trial, not a joke,” Mitschunas says, underscoring the scale while acknowledging local skepticism that a rice crop could ever work in Britain. The team has planted these varieties in four small paddies that were dug and flooded on the Taylors’ land, underscoring how climate-adaptive farming is being tested on existing farms rather than in controlled experimental plots.

The brisk summer, described by the Met Office as the hottest on record since 1884, has been a proving ground for the crop. Nadine says the heat helped the plants grow, and she casts the effort as strategic planning for a land-use future in which climate risks are baked in rather than avoided. “Nobody has tried this before, but with climate change, we have crops that 10 years ago we wouldn’t have thought would be viable. In 10 years’ time, rice could be a completely perfect crop for us,” she says.

Among the nine varieties is Estrella from Colombia, a standout so far, while a Japanese rice variety has not flowered fully. The team’s goal is to identify which types could eventually suit the UK’s climate, and how to integrate rice into a broader rotation that balances yield, water use and soil health. The project is a broader exploration of UK agriculture’s future, not a single crop trial, and it sits within a wider push to understand how farming can adapt to a warming world while maintaining food resilience.

The Taylors’ farm sits within the Fens, a region whose peat soils are among the most productive agricultural lands in Britain. They also illustrate a climate paradox: these peat soils store substantial carbon but are drying out, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as drainage and cultivation progress. Nationally, peat soils are linked to about 3% of greenhouse gas emissions, and their management affects soil quality and long-term productivity. The four paddies are part of a larger effort to rewet peatlands and test how such strategies interact with crop production, water use and emissions.

“Potatoes are an amazing crop. You can’t knock that, but we know things need to change,” says Craig Taylor, whose family has farmed in Cambridgeshire for generations. He and Sarah emphasize that the project is about rethinking the system so it benefits farmers, consumers and the climate, not about branding themselves as “crazy rice farmers.” The experiment sits among potato, onion and beet crops and is designed to explore how diversified crops could stabilize farming livelihoods as weather patterns become more volatile. Farmers at other sites are watching closely, while officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have visited the site to learn how such trials might inform policy.

The research goes beyond the novelty of growing rice in the UK. It is part of a broader inquiry into how to protect farming and food supplies while addressing climate and environmental costs. The UK food system, including imports, is responsible for a sizable portion of national greenhouse gas emissions, with agriculture accounting for about 11.7% of emissions. Growing rice on peat soils will not fix that overnight, but researchers say the approach could offer a model for regionally adapted production that mitigates climate risks in the longer term.

Richard Pywell, who leads the UKCEH project, notes that climate projections suggest that even modest warming could widen the range of crops that can be grown in the UK. “We’re at a critical juncture in climate change, and we need to understand what sort of crops we could potentially be growing in the future,” Pywell says. The team acknowledges that rice production in the UK remains edge-case and dependent on continued favorable weather, water management, and soil health, but they see it as a potential building block for resilient farming.

As the season progresses and harvest nears, the team plans to test not just yield but the environmental footprint of domestic rice. Early results from the trials suggest the crop is not producing more emissions than it helps lock away by saturated peat conditions, a finding that, if validated, could shape debates about peatland management and crop diversification in the coming decade. Government interest remains high, with continued monitoring and potential scaling of certain approaches that could help reduce reliance on imports and bolster climate-smart farming practices.

If current warming trends persist, model projections indicate that average UK temperatures could rise by roughly 2 to 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In that scenario, some climate researchers say rice could become a more common UK crop in certain regions, especially where peat soils are being re-wet or managed to minimize emissions while maintaining productivity. That prospect—growing a staple like rice domestically—would require careful coordination across policy, research, extension services and farm management, but supporters say it could contribute to a more resilient and locally sourced food system over time.

Harvesting is slated for October, and the researchers caution that this is a learning exercise rather than a commercial launch. Still, the Cambridgeshire trial offers a tangible glimpse of how climate-adaptive farming might unfold in Britain and how crops, soils and policies could be reimagined together in a warming world.