Rice projects reduce methane from farming

This company helps rice farmers in India switch to greener growing techniques

Spotted: Rice is a staple component of countless cuisines around the world, with over 513 million metric tonnes of the grain produced in the last harvest year. But all that rice comes at a high cost for the planet. Rice-growing practices like field flooding contribute to the crop’s enormous climate footprint, which represents 12 per cent of global methane emissions. Now, Mitti Labs wants to help rice farmers embrace greener growing techniques.

The New York startup, which also has a subsidiary in India (the second-largest rice-producing country), designs and supports rice projects across India to help growers reduce their environmental impact. Working with local partners, Mitti Labs has already launched five projects across the country, which are all helping farmers limit their water usage, embrace sustainable growing techniques, and avoid high-polluting practices like stubble burning.

Once farmers have made these changes, Mitti Labs can track improvements and carbon reduction using satellites and its remote sensing platform, as well as greenhouse gas chambers on the ground. Once this data has been collated, Mitti Labs then works with Gold Standard to issue verified carbon credits on behalf of the farms, enabling external companies to support green agriculture and the farmers to receive additional financial support.

By engaging directly with the farmers and local community, Mitti Labs ensures that the right techniques are introduced depending on the needs of a given project, and ensures growers receive the relevant training. This way, Mitti Labs wants to not only benefit the environment, but also improve the lives of rice farmers and other local residents. According to the company, it has the potential to cut methane emissions by over 50 per cent and water usage by over 40 per cent. It can also improve farmer livelihoods by over 30 per cent.

The company currently has 10 more projects in the works and although Mitti Labs will remain focused on the Indian market, it also hopes to expand into Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Thailand. Helping the company do that is a recent $3 million seed funding round, which was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Voyager.

Written By: Matilda Cox