IRRI and BASF launched the second phase of Optima, a project testing whether rice farming practices that cut methane can also protect long term soil health. The first phase found that direct seeded rice, improved fertilizer management, and alternate wetting and drying can lower methane emissions and water use without reducing yield. Phase 2 now focuses on what happens to soil organic carbon when fields are dried more often, and whether straw management or biochar can offset any losses. The study uses data from IRRI's long term continuous cropping experiment in Los Baños to improve the Oryza model, which predicts water movement and methane release. That model could support future carbon farming programs and greenhouse gas accounting. Results are expected to give field based evidence on tradeoffs between fast methane reductions and slow soil carbon changes, so low emission rice practices can be scaled with confidence.
