AI Startup Tackles Climate Change for Rice Farmers
Addressing Climate Change Through Innovative Carbon Removal
Combating climate change presents a significant challenge, as recognized by carbon removal companies like Mitti Labs.
This New York-based startup has pioneered technology for quantifying methane emissions from rice paddies. They leverage this data to educate hundreds of thousands of farmers in sustainable agricultural methods. This intensive, localized approach is often overlooked by traditional venture capital firms.
Securing Funding Through Strategic Alliances
How has Mitti Labs successfully attracted investment despite this challenge? The answer lies in the cultivation of strategic partnerships.
Mitti Labs has recently initiated a collaboration with The Nature Conservancy to promote regenerative, no-burn agriculture, as exclusively revealed to TechCrunch. This partnership expands the company’s operational scope. Mitti will utilize its AI-driven models to accurately measure, report, and verify the work conducted by the nonprofit’s field teams in India.
These teams are actively assisting farmers in adopting a range of climate-positive practices. “The majority of project implementation is carried out by local individuals from the villages where these initiatives are taking place,” explained co-founder Xavier Laguarta to TechCrunch.
Expanding Software Capabilities
Currently, Mitti Labs primarily concentrates on projects aimed at reducing methane emissions from rice cultivation. However, the company is actively developing additional software functionalities for external use, Laguarta stated.
“We are capable of measuring Scope 3 emissions for other project developers or corporations collaborating with rice farmers,” Laguarta clarified, referencing emissions that fall outside of an organization’s direct control. “Our solution can be offered to anyone currently managing projects on the ground as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering.”
The Rise of SaaS Partnerships in Carbon Removal
Mitti Labs is not the only company pursuing this SaaS-partnership model. Mati Carbon, a recent winner of the Xprize Carbon grand prize, specializes in measurement, reporting, and verification software for enhanced rock weathering. This technique involves spreading minerals on agricultural land to both sequester carbon and enhance soil fertility.
Carbon Credits and Farmer Revenue
Methane reduction initiatives generate carbon credits, which Mitti Labs meticulously tracks using its software. The company retains a portion of the revenue from credit sales, distributing the remainder to farmers and their communities.
“Farmers typically experience approximately a 15% increase in their profitability by participating in our programs.” This additional income can be particularly impactful for smallholder farmers, who often operate with limited financial margins.
Understanding Methane Emissions from Rice Farming
Mitti Labs’ software analyzes diverse data points from rice farms to determine their methane emission levels throughout the growing season. Rice cultivation differs from many other agricultural practices due to the prolonged flooding of fields.
This creates anaerobic conditions – a lack of oxygen – within the soil, fostering the growth of microbes that produce methane. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, possessing a warming potential 82 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timeframe.
Rice farming constitutes a substantial source of human-induced methane emissions, accounting for roughly 10% to 12% of the global total.
Leveraging Satellite Data and AI
Mitti Labs’ primary data sources include satellite imagery and radar technology, capable of penetrating cloud cover, vegetation, water, and soil to assess subsurface conditions where these microbes reside.
This data is then processed by AI models, trained on extensive satellite data and results from comprehensive field studies.
Scalability and the Role of Smallholder Farmers
Smallholder farms are prevalent in India, with an average size of one hectare (approximately 2.5 acres). Direct monitoring of each farm using physical equipment would be prohibitively expensive.
The use of remotely sensed data helps maintain reasonable verification costs, while the established partnerships facilitate the adoption of climate-friendly practices by millions of farmers.
“Ninety percent of rice is cultivated in Asia, and beyond China, the majority of rice-growing regions share these characteristics of smallholder farming,” Laguarta noted. “Our strong partnership with The Nature Conservancy enables us to develop tools that can be widely applied across the region.”
