The world's three largest cereals, rice, wheat, and corn, are all grasses. Rice has been considered so important across the world that a huge research network has been formed on its own for the study of food plants.

Since the Industrial Revolution, when mass production of grains became possible, the damage caused by diseases and pests also increased. The development of strong rice became essential to solving the food problems of humanity. Professor Miyamoto studies resistance to external environments such as high temperatures, low temperatures, dryness, and pests, or in other words, the "survival ability of rice." Especially in recent years, as global warming progresses, research on high temperature resistance has attracted attention.

In recent years, research using genetic information from model plants has progressed, and plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana are used in basic research around the world. Researchers are exchanging information about genes that can be applied to rice.

Understanding how genes affect rice growth and environmental adaptation will enable efficient ecological analysis and breeding. Research on grains, which account for the majority of human calorie intake, is progressing simultaneously around the world, leading to solutions to problems.

To achieve the SDGs, we need to share resources and show the way to a solution, going beyond differences in perspective and environment. The global cooperative research on plants, including rice, holds many clues for achieving the SDGs.