How Is KR 3.4 Tracking?
What makes rice farming such a challenge to decarbonize? Continuous flooding of rice paddies, the traditional global practice, generates huge amounts of methane from standing pools of water. Hundreds of thousands of farmers have already turned to intermittent flooding, a planet-friendly alternative. Besides eliminating up to two thirds of methane emissions, this practice can double a rice farmer’s yield and sharply boost profits.
But the switch comes with a catch: It can drastically increase emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is three hundred times more potent, pound for pound, than CO2. To avoid this unintended consequence, water levels must be closely monitored. Shallow flooding, together with nitrogen management, can abate this climate risk and cut a rice farmer’s emissions by up to 90 percent.