Abstract:Future rice systems will need to produce more grain while minimizing the environmental impact. A key question is how to orient agricultural research & development (R&D) programs at national to global scales to maximize the return on investment. Here we assess yield gap and resource-use efficiency (including water, pesticides, nitrogen, labor, and energy) across 32 rice cropping systems, together accounting for 88% of global rice production. We show that achieving high yields and high resource-use efficiencies are not conflicting goals.