Mitti Labs Expands Climate-Smart Rice Farming

Mitti Labs, an AI-powered remote sensing and field operations startup, is advancing climate-smart rice farming in India, focusing on Punjab, a key rice-producing region. In partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) through its PRANA program, the company promotes regenerative and no-burn practices to address stubble burning, soil degradation, and methane emissions from rice cultivation.

Launched in 2022, the PRANA initiative has trained thousands of farmers and plans to reach 650,000 farmers across 6,259 villages by 2025, with over 21,000 training sessions scheduled. The program now also targets water scarcity, soil health, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, using regenerative foodscapes and public-private partnerships.

Rice farming accounts for 10–12% of global human-caused methane emissions, equivalent to about 1Gt CO2e annually. Rice cultivation produces methane because flooded paddies create anaerobic soil conditions, fostering microbial activity. Mitti Labs uses satellite technology, AI, and ground operations to monitor and quantify these emissions, covering 10 million ha, or roughly 25% of India’s rice-growing area. Its digital Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification system allows TNC to target high-priority regions and validate climate-smart practices, including Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), Direct Seeded Rice (DSR), and no-burn residue management.

The startup has received US$150,000 from NASA’s SBIR Ignite grant in 2024 and US$850,000 in Phase II funding in 2025, supporting its expansion to decarbonize the US$300 billion global rice industry. By connecting smallholder farmers with companies seeking high-quality carbon credits, Mitti enables scalable methane reduction. Farmers participating in the program report up to a 15% improvement in their bottom line.

Xavier Laguarta, Co-Founder, Mitti, emphasized the role of partnerships: “Most of the project operations on the ground are from locals from the villages where these projects are being implemented.” The company also plans to offer its software to third-party organizations to measure Scope 3 emissions from rice farming projects globally.