USA Rice and The Rice Foundation have announced ambitious new sustainability targets for 2030. These build on more than three decades of conservation achievements.
The new targets span six key areas and are to:
- Increase land use efficiency by 10%
- Decrease soil loss by 8%
- Decrease water use by another 13%
- Decrease greenhouse gas emissions by another 13%
- Decrease energy use by another 10%, and
- Increase biodiversity on our farmland by 10%
These goals expand on the rice industry’s achievements over the past 36 years, which include water use reduction of 52%, greenhouse gas reduction of 41%, soil loss reduction of 29%, energy use reductions of 34%, and land use efficiency improvements of 39%.
Charley Mathews, Jr., USA Rice Chair said, “There is no question we have accomplished great things for rice sustainability and conservation on our farms. But in farming, you’re never quite done. You can always do more, always do better. And that’s what we’ve come together to announce – to challenge ourselves and our fellow farmers to do even better. I know we can do it.”
Progress towards the rice sustainability goals will be tracked using the U.S. Rice Industry Sustainability Report as a baseline.