Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Fish in the Fields (FIF) harnesses natural systems to capture and utilize heat-trapping methane emissions associated with rice agriculture, described by the UN as the world‚ most valuable crop. Launched in 2012 as a sustainable aquaculture project in California‚ rice growing region, FIF‚ groundbreaking research demonstrated that introducing small fish into winter-flooded rice fields dramatically reduces the climate impacts of rice cultivation. This striking reduction is the result of a trophic cascade, a natural process that activates when fish alter the microscopic food chain of the nutrient-dense flooded rice fields. These small fish also provide a carbon capture verification method and a second annual income source for rice farmers as a marketable protein source. Currently, FIF is in the early stages of adapting to the Southeastern US growing conditions and to developing a climate-smart protocol that integrates with existing carbon markets and USDA practice standards, while incentivizing widespread farmer participation.

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Removes/stores GHGs (e.g., projects that capture, sequester, or otherwise enhance the "sinks" that accumulate and store GHGs)

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Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Resource Renewal Institute, a woman-led organization, is committed to fostering a socially just program that empowers all stakeholders who intersect with the development and implementation of FIF. Currently, the agricultural industry is characterized by majority ownership and a minority work-force that offers experience and expertise but has been afforded little opportunity for investment. As FIF expands, it has the potential for developing and supporting minority businesses that service the new aquaculture operations. We also see Fish in the Field‚ two-crop model as one that can support year-round employment for minority agricultural workers instead of the single-crop seasonal work that is now available. This will enable greater stability and security for the farm families who live there. 

Under-represented farmers will be explicitly and directly invited to engage with the project. To do so, we will leverage existing and expanding relationships with members of these communities. Runkle and the Isbell Farm are both involved in the new Climate Smart Commodity project led by USA Rice and Ducks Unlimited. This project (2023-2027) has a strong emphasis on including under-represented farmers in project activities, including funding infrastructure investments on their farms. That project is partnering with the National Black Growers Council, Warehouses4Good, and the Arkansas River Rice Mill, which is the only black-owned rice mill in Arkansas. In that project‚ kick-off meeting in fall, 2022, there was enthusiastic interest from many underserved community members to join, participate in, and learn from projects such as this one.

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Mission Statement:

Resource Renewal Institute is a environmental nonprofit in Fairfax, CA. Our mission is to foster innovative, scalable natural solutions for increasingly complex environmental problems, and to test, share and spread these ideas for the benefit of all. Over the years, RRI has incubated influential programs and strategies that have advanced the environment and human well-being, and nurtured hundreds of leaders who have become catalysts for change. RRI was founded in 1985 by the late CA Secretary of Resources and UN Environment Prize honoree, Huey D. Johnson. A pioneer of the modern environmental movement, Mr. Johnson also founded the Green Planning, Trust for Public Land, Grand Canyon Trust, Defense of Place, and Greenbelt Movement International. 

Our FIF program currently operates in the largest rice producing states in the US, Arkansas and California, but we envision its model adapting successfully to rice growing regions worldwide.

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