Rojas Blake

06/05/2024 · Primary School

Rice farming produces large amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Rice farming accounts for nearly \( 50 \% \) of the world's greenhouse gas emissions from cropland and for about 10\% of total GHG emissions from agriculture overall. Among different types of agriculture, only livestock production, especially cattle farming, surpasses the GHG emissions of rice farming. Like cattle farming, the large GHG emissions of rice farming are primarily due to releases of _-_gas, an especially powerful greenhouse gas. While cattle release this gas from their digestive tract, in the case of rice, this gas is released from decaying organic material in flooded rice paddies. Researchers have demonstrated, however, that using different strains of rice and modifying irrigation practices to reduce the duration and frequency of flooding in the rice paddies can reduce GHG emissions of rice farming by 30\%. What is this gas?