Of the global GHG accumulation for all sectors, 0.001 percent comes from California rice fields, according to data compiled by Louis Espino, UC Cooperative Extension rice farm advisor for Colusa County. An inventory by the California Air Resources Board (ARB), meanwhile, puts agriculture at 7 percent of the total statewide GHG emissions. Of this amount from agriculture, rice cultivation accounts for just 1.8 percent. In other words, rice contributes about a tenth of 1 percent of the GHG emissions from California’s agriculture sector – nearly the same as the global contribution.

(For complete story, see: California rice ahead of curve on reducing greenhouse gases)