Mitti Labs partners with ICAR-IARI, India's leading institution for scientific innovation in agriculture

We are excited to announce a major research partnership between Mitti Labs and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-IARI), the leading institution for agricultural research in India. This collaboration will extend Mitti Labs' groundbreaking research and quantification of methane emissions from rice farming.

Established in 1905, ICAR-IARI was responsible for the research leading to the "Green Revolution in India" of the 1970s. With a 500-hectare campus near Delhi and multiple regional stations across the country, ICAR-IARI conducts pioneering work in agricultural engineering, microbiology, seed science, soil technology, and greenhouse gas emissions monitoring.

ICAR's gas chromatography capabilities will help generate critical datasets to build the next generation of biogeochemical models for quantifying methane emissions from rice farming across rice varieties and Agro Ecological Zones. Robust and precise quantifications of these emissions will further strengthen the scientific evidence for scaling Climate-smart rice farming practices in India. 

Why This Partnership Matters

Rice cultivation is responsible for 17% of India’s methane emissions. Since 2025, India has become the world’s largest producer of rice, which means that its methane emissions from rice farming are set to continue to rise.

At Mitti Labs, we've already onboarded 60,000 farmers across six Indian states in the shift to Climate-smart practices, particularly Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD). This irrigation technique reduces water usage by 40% and cuts methane emissions by 50%, all while maintaining yields for farmers.

The Science Behind the Collaboration

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for 25% of all global warming to date. Traditional methods of measuring agricultural methane emissions are costly and difficult to scale. Our partnership will change that.

The collaboration involves analysis of gas and soil samples collected by the Mitti Labs team across India over multiple growing seasons. Samples from two key rice cultivation practices will be compared: conventional continuously flooded fields versus Alternate Wetting and Drying. The research will generate critical ground-truth data that strengthens evidence-based, Climate-smart rice farming across India.

Gas samples from our field sites will be analyzed at Dr. Arti Bhatia's laboratories at ICAR-IARI using gas chromatography—the gold standard for emissions measurement. In addition, soils will be assessed for key physico-chemical properties. This in situ laboratory dataset serves as an essential foundation for the calibration and validation of our advanced digital monitoring, reporting, and verification (dMRV) platform, which uses satellite remote sensing and biogeochemical modeling to track farming practices and quantify environmental outcomes across millions of farms.

A Win-Win for Science and Farmers

"As a scientist specialised in greenhouse gas monitoring, I am thrilled to be partnering with Mitti Labs," said Dr Arti Bhatia, Principal Scientist at ICAR-IARI. "Their work with smallholder farmers is truly innovative and tackles key issues in agriculture in India: rice farming occupies 25% of our agricultural landmass and employs tens of millions of smallholder farmers. Quantifying and then reducing methane emissions, optimising water usage and securing livelihoods is crucial to our food security and future climate trajectory."

For Mitti Labs co-founder Devdut Dalal, the partnership represents a pivotal milestone: "By combining ICAR-IARI's scientific rigor and decades of experience in agricultural research with our innovative dMRV platform, we're building the foundation to truly scale climate-smart rice farming across India and beyond. This partnership validates our approach and accelerates our mission to help millions of smallholder farmers transition to sustainable practices."

The Bigger Picture

By combining ground measurements with remote sensing and biogeochemical modeling - through an iterative “measure-and-model” approach - we can accurately track environmental outcomes at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods.

UN estimates suggest that India's methane emissions from rice farming will rise by 8% by 2030 if current practices continue. But with validated, scalable solutions like AWD—backed by rigorous science from partnerships like this one—we can reverse that trajectory while improving farmer livelihoods and conserving precious water resources.

The research findings will be shared through scientific publications, contributing to the broader agricultural research community and informing evidence-based policymaking. This is how we build trust in carbon markets and create lasting change—one rice paddy at a time.