Over 30 farmers on 41,000 acres are growing regenerative rice.
In its second year, AgriCapture’s Climate-Friendly Rice program expands to 41,000 acres across Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, and Texas – a 100% acreage increase from 2023.
AgriCapture provides agronomic support and certifies the environmental and health benefits of regeneratively grown rice, utilizing ground truth data, remote sensing, heavy metal and nutrient testing, and emission modeling.
Direct farmer payments, which will total $2.4 million by the end of the year, support the adoption of regenerative practices and post-harvest activities that uphold identity preservation of the grain. To date, AgriCapture’s direct payments to farmers total $5 million.
What do we mean by Regenerative?
See AgriCapture’s definition.
Regenerative farming aims to minimize soil disturbance and reinforce living roots with no-till, maintain soil cover, and support biodiversity. Notably, the AgriCapture Climate-Friendly Rice program requires water-saving and methane-reducing irrigation techniques and efficient fertilizer application.
After harvest, farmers and our mill network make sure the grain is never comingled with conventional rice during growing, harvest, storage, milling, and distribution to deliver regenerative and traceable, non-GMO white and brown rice.
Water-saving irrigation on a Missouri farm.
Direct farmer payments are made possible through the USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program, through which AgriCapture launched the first USDA-funded product in early 2024.
AgriCapture is certifying 90 million pounds of rice after harvest, with each supplier receiving a field-specific certification report detailing the grain’s characteristics.
About AgriCapture
AgriCapture is the leading certifier of Climate-Friendly farming practices and a generator of high integrity agricultural emissions reduction and removal credits. AgriCapture creates economically viable, market-based solutions for cultivating crops and conserving land while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. AgriCapture builds climate-friendly supply chains by offering farmers technical assistance and certification for Climate-Friendly crops cultivated with sustainable practices, generating carbon credits for corporations who are reducing and offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions, and empowering consumers to consciously select Climate-Friendly products.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number NR233A750004G004.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, any reference to specific brands or types of products or services does not constitute or imply an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for those products or services.
