India, Feb. 18 -- It is January in Srinagar. Outside, temperatures hover below freezing and fields lie fallow. Inside a research facility at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), however, rice plants behave as if it were summer-the season when the crop is sown in the Kashmir valley. Instead of waiting the usual 130 to 140 days for a harvest, scientists say the plants can be coaxed to flower and set grain within 60 days.

This technique, known as speed breeding, is crucial for plant breeders racing against climate change. It allows to do something that nature rarely permits: grow four to five generations of rice in a single year, rather than just one. "In Kashmir, we usually grow only one crop in summe...