"IR64-Sub1 is the popular rice variety IR64 inserted with the submergence tolerance gene or Sub 1, which IRRI and the University of California-Davis have discovered from an Indiah variety FR13A. IRA64-Sub 1, says Dcsamero, is a non-genetically engineered rice plant that can survive, grow, and develop even after 10 days of complete submergence." - Amit Patel from Bookmarklet

I could be wrong about this, but it sounds like to avoid the “genetic engineering” label they went through a convoluted time consuming process that ended up with the same results but with a process they can call “not genetically engineered”. - Amit Patel

It turns out they first used genetic engineering, with bacteria transferring genes into the rice, to figure out what genes they needed. Then, because people wouldn't eat genetically engineered rice, they reproduced the same rice using traditional slow techniques. - Amit Patel