Rice2035: A decadal vision for rice research and breeding

Rice serves as a cornerstone of global food security, feeding over half of the world's population, yet it faces increasingly severe challenges from population growth, climate change, biotic stresses, and resource limitations. In the past 60 years, remarkable achievements have been made in fundamental research and rice breeding, supporting the quadrupled global rice production. However, the current growth rate of rice yield has stagnated at ∼0.5% annually, insufficient to meet projected food demand for 2050 or beyond. In this Perspective article, we briefly summarizes the developmental trajectories of rice fundamental research and breeding, and retrace the shift in rice breeding goals and research stages, encompassing the milestone events in Green Revolution, hybrid rice breeding, and molecular design breeding. We then emphasize the persistent challenges in limited genetic diversity, trade-offs between yield and resistance, and nutrient utilization and articulate the breeding objectives of "Two Increases and Two Decreases" for the next decade in enhancing yield and quality while reducing fertilizer and pesticide inputs and yield loss in response to disasters. To address these challenges, we overview and prospect current and future cutting-edge technologies, research methodologies, and breeding approaches, focusing on expanding genetic diversity, deciphering the molecular basis of key traits, and improving breeding efficiency. These efforts aim to facilitate the realization of the "Rice 2035" breeding goals, thereby ensuring global food security.