Increased greenhouse-gas intensity of rice production under future atmospheric conditions

Published by Ecoss on

leshyk illustration rice paddy methane

Rising global temperatures and CO2 levels are increasing the amount of global-warming methane (the flaming red molecule depicted here) produced by rice farming: with more CO2 in the air to pull in for photosynthesis, rice plants grow faster and supply soil microbes with more sugars seeped from their roots.  In the water-covered anoxic rice-paddy soils, anaerobic bacteria produce more methane, which is 20 times more potent as a climate-warming greenhouse gas than CO2.

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