Rice Irrigation Symposium

Rice Irrigation: Water Use and Greenhouse Gas Management

Barcelona Room

Monday, February 19, 2018
1:30-5:30 p.m.

Water-saving rice irrigation strategies can also reduce net greenhouse gas emissions. This symposium will describe how water saving strategies impact harvest yield, farm practice, and greenhouse gas emissions. These methods – intermittent flooding, single dry-down, aerobic or furrow irrigation, alternate wetting and drying – have been implemented around the world. Rice farmers in Arkansas have begun to receive carbon emissions offset credits due to the methane reductions of these practices. There is evidence that water savings can also enhance rice yield through stronger root and shoot growth, though the practices can also generate drought stress or weed or fungal blast infestations. In this symposium we look to synthesize available knowledge from rice researchers, producers, and local and global partners or organizations who are engaged with the climate implications of water saving irrigation practices.

Agenda

1:30-1:50	Adam Chambers: Methane Reductions, Carbon Markets and Rice Water Management
1:50-2:10	Allison Thomson: Decision Support Tool for Evaluating Methane Emissions Reduction Opportunities from Rice Production
2:10-2:30	Bruce Linquist: Greenhouse gas emissions and management practices that impact them in US rice systems
2:30-2:50	Fugen Dou: Responses of Rice Physiology and GHG to Management Practices
2:50-3:10	Joseph Massey: Lessons on Adapting Innovative Irrigation Practices to Commercial Rice Farms.
3:10-3:25	Break
3:25-3:45	Michele Reba: Field-scale water management in Mid-South rice production
3:45-4:05	Arlene Adviento-Borbe: Use of safe alternate wetting & drying irrigation reduced yield-scaled global warming potentials in Arkansas commercial rice fields
4:05-4:25	Benjamin Runkle: Methane reductions from AWD irrigated rice production
4:25-4:45	Matt Limmer: Effect of water management on grain concentrations of nutrients and trace metal(loid)s
4:45-5:15	Jo Heuschele: Farming on the Wild Side: using native algae to reduce water and nitrogen use
5:15-5:30	Discussion: what’s next, what have we learned, how to move forward

For more information, please email Benjamin Runkle.