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ClimateRice

Transforming global rice production with SRI

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4 billion people eat rice every day

The way we grow rice needs to change

  • generates 12% of man-made methane emissions 
     

  • uses 1/3 of world's freshwater for irrigation 
     

  • 15% estimated yield loss by 2050 due to climate change

  • 80% of rice is grown by smallholders

ClimateRice is a collaboration between Cornell University & CarbonFarm

We aim to scale up the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to 1/3 of global rice area in 10 years.

To get there, we're creating a self-financing model with carbon credits.

flooded rice.jpg

4 billion people eat rice every day

The way we grow rice needs to change

  • generates 12% of man-made methane emissions 
     

  • uses 1/3 of world's freshwater for irrigation 
     

  • 15% estimated yield loss by 2050 due to climate change

  • 80% of rice is grown by smallholders

flooded rice.jpg

4 billion people eat rice every day

The way we grow rice needs to change

  • generates 12% of man-made methane emissions 
     

  • uses 1/3 of world's freshwater for irrigation 
     

  • 15% estimated yield loss by 2050 due to climate change

  • 80% of rice is grown by smallholders

A climate-resilient alternative exists

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

A simple method based on agronomy, agro-ecology and farmer knowledge

A climate-resilient alternative exists

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

A simple method based on agronomy, agro-ecology and farmer knowledge

flooded rice.jpg

4 billion people eat rice every day

The way we grow rice needs to change

  • generates 12% of man-made methane emissions 
     

  • uses 1/3 of world's freshwater for irrigation 
     

  • 15% estimated yield loss by 2050 due to climate change

  • 80% of rice is grown by smallholders

What is SRI?

The System for Rice Intensification is a set of sustainable practices that can have a big impact

For the farmer

  • +20 to +100% increase in smallholder profits

  • improved soil quality 

For the environment

  • -50% reduction in methane emissions

  • -30% reduction in water use

For food security

  • Improved resilience to drought, flooding and extreme wind events

SRI is a knowledge-based approach all about developing healthy plants

Terrace farming in Muong Hoa Valley, Vietnam

Scaling SRI globally requires money to train and support farmers...

 

... so we're creating a virtuous self-financing model.

This is our self-financing model

1. Train farmers

2. Measure  impact

3. Sell carbon credits

1/ Train farmers

Provide training and support to farmers to adopt SRI

2/ Measure the impact

Use satellites to measure, report and verify the reduction in methane emissions

3/ Sell carbon credits

Issue and sell registry-certified carbon credits to companies striving to reach Net Zero emissions

4/ Repeat

Use carbon credit sales to reward farmers, and train and support new ones

Our impact

We're targeting 55M hectares over the next 10 years.

That's one-third of global rice farmland.

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+40% increase in smallholder profits

Higher yields.

Lower input costs.

Extra revenue from carbon credits.

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Erika Styger

Professor of Practice

 

Director Climate Resilient Farming Systems

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Vassily Carantino

CEO

james small.jpeg

James Hastwell

CTO

Earth Observation start-up

ClimateRiceConcept Sept 2022_edited.jpg

Erika is Professor of the Practice in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. There, she holds the position of Director of the Climate-Resilient Farming Systems Program and with SRI-Rice is connected to a global network of local SRI partners in 50+ countries.

Vassily combines expertise in climate change with a cultivated intuition for data-driven problem solving.

As a former McKinsey consultant, he specialised in sustainability & carbon markets. Engineer by training, Vassily is a graduate of Columbia Business School.

Data product leader to leverage big data and scientific research to build innovative products.

Prior to CarbonFarm, James was the Head of Data Science at a French AdTech leading a team of 15 engineers.

 

James holds a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris.

Team

ClimateRiceConcept Sept 2022_edited.jpg

Climate-Resilient Farming Systems Program

Earth Observation Start-up

erika-styger_edited.jpg

Erika Styger, PhD

Professor of Practice

 

vassily small.jpg

Vassily Carantino

CEO CarbonFarm

james small.jpeg

James Hastwell

CTO CarbonFarm

Erika is a global expert on  implementing and scaling-up the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), and has worked in 30+ countries for the past 30 years.

She is connected to a global network of local SRI partners in 50+ countries.

She is a Professor of the Practice in Tropical Agronomy, Cornell University, Director of Climate-Resilient Farming System.

Vassily combines expertise in climate change with a cultivated intuition for data-driven problem solving.

As a former McKinsey consultant, he specialised in sustainability & carbon markets.

 

Engineer by training, Vassily is a graduate of Columbia Business School.

James is the data product leader to leverage big data and scientific research to build innovative products.

Prior to CarbonFarm, James was the Head of Data Science at a French AdTech leading a team of 15 engineers.

 

James holds a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris.

&

Cornell's Climate Resilient Farming Systems program

  • Leading academic group on SRI

  • Global network of local SRI partners in 50+ countries

erika-styger_edited.jpg

Prof. Erika Styger

  • ClimateRiceConcept Sept 2022_edited

Erika is Professor of the Practice in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. There, she holds the position of Director of the Climate-Resilient Farming Systems Program and with SRI-Rice is connected to a global network of local SRI partners in 50+ countries.

CarbonFarm, an innovative Earth-observation startup

  • Partnered with the European Space Agency

  • Collaborating with 2 leading research labs to detect methane emissions from rice via satellite

vassily small.jpg

Vassily Carantino, CEO

  • Linkedin

Vassily combines expertise in climate change with a cultivated intuition for data-driven problem solving.

As a former McKinsey consultant, he specialised in sustainability & carbon markets. Engineer by training, Vassily is a graduate of Columbia Business School.

james small.jpeg

James Hastwell, CTO

  • Linkedin

James is a data product leader whose expertise lies in leveraging big data and scientific research to build innovative products.

Prior to CarbonFarm, James was the Head of Data Science at a French AdTech leading a team of 15 engineers. James holds a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris.

Rice field in Mekong Delta, An Giang, Vietnam

ClimateRice

Help us transform global rice production with SRI

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