Rice is the principal food of nearly half of mankind and more than 90% of it is grown in developing countries where problems of food supply are more acute. Over the last 30 yr, world rice production has more than doubled—from 257 million t to 534 mil- lion t. This phenomenal increase can be attributed to the large-scale introduction of improved rice varieties and technology developed at IRRI and national rice improvement programs through the application of Mendelian genetics and conventional breeding approaches. These approaches to increasing rice production averted the large-scale famines predicted by some experts. However, the specter of food shortages looms once again. The annual rate of increase of rice production has slowed down to where it is lower than the rate of increase of rice consumers. There are no new areas that can be used for rice farming. Agricultural economists estimate that we will have to produce 70% more rice by 2025 from less land with less labor, less water, and fewer chemicals. New rice varieties that combine higher yield potential with excellent grain quality, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and input use efficiency are desperately needed. Recent advances in cellular and molecular genetics of rice have come perhaps in the “nick of time” to provide us with new tools to develop the rice varieties of the future. Only 10 yr ago, the status of rice genetics was considered far behind that of other food crops such as maize, wheat, barley, and tomato. However, the last decade has seen a knowledge explosion in this arena and rice is now considered a model plant for such research on cereal crops. Several fortunate developments have led to this happy turn of events.