Biogeochemistry in agriculture: Quantifying climate-smart, greenhouse gas reductions in rice production
| When |
Sep 26, 2025
from 12:00 PM to 01:00 PM |
|---|---|
| Where | Shumaker Research Building Room 139 |
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All are invited to this lecture in the Biology Department Seminar Series featuring Dr. Benjamin Runkle, P.E., a Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, at the University of Arkansas.
Come learn how climate-smart agricultural practices may be feasible for U.S. rice production to create conservation co-benefits amidst the sustainable intensification of agricultural production.
As rice cultivation is responsible for 10% of the world’s anthropogenic methane emissions, reducing this source is important in generating a climate-friendly food system.
An irrigation practice that saves water, known as alternate wetting and drying (AWD), introduces deliberate soil aerobic conditions of 3-10 days each that greatly reduce methane emissions.
Dr. Runkle's group and collaborators use a variety of techniques over the rice field landscape to better quantify these dynamics at the production scale in Arkansas, which produces half the rice grown in the U.S. They have demonstrated both the methane emissions reductions and water savings possible through AWD implementation or related techniques.
These findings will be contextualized in a discussion about biogeochemistry, sustainability, and opportunities for farmer adaption for aspects of rice production in the U.S. Mid-South.
Dr. Runkle has post-doctoral research experience at the Institute of Soil Science at the University of Hamburg in Germany and degrees in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley. He has had funding from the United States Department of Agriculture, Geological Survey, Department of Energy, NASA, National Science Foundation and the private sector. He researches terrestrial carbon and water cycles in natural and managed landscapes, with a focus on rice production systems in Arkansas. His group works on production farms to test more sustainable approaches to rice production and to develop decision support tools.
