Grains of Change
We’ve partnered with Balinese charities – Yayasan Kasih Peduli Anak, Sari Hati, Bali Bersama Bisa, Ragam Foundation and Bali Street Mums – for a two-year double-impact program.
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Each month, we aim to raise USD 1,000, providing 750 kg of regenerative rice, equivalent to 10,000 nutritious meals for children and families in need.
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At the same time, this supports 10 local farmers each month to transition to regenerative practices, increasing their income by around 30% within the first year.
Together, we’re restoring livelihoods, nourishing people, and regenerating the planet.
About Regenerative Rice farming
Rice farming must undergo a radical transformation to sustain a healthy, growing population. As a food staple for over 3.5 billion people – a number that will rise disproportionately as high population growth countries are rice-dependent – this transition is critical for our civilization and its geopolitical balance.
Our Planet will need to produce rice well into its distant future.
Organic rice production is often seen as an alternative to chemical-based farming, but this has been largely disproven:
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Organic rice production yields less per area (De Ponti et al., 2012), requiring 25% - 35% more land to match conventional output, which would lead to drastic reduction of natural, wild ecosystems (Meemken and Qaim, 2018).
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Organic rice farming is not viable for most smallholder rice farmers (who produce 90% of the world’s rice) for two main reasons: 1) they lack sufficient access to high-quality compost to support farm fertility (Heryadi et. al, 2018), and 2) the labor increase particularly associated with manual weed management compounded with increased fertilizer use, means that organic farmer net income is mostly below conventional farming (Ly et al., 2012).
The only viable way forward is agro-ecology, re-learning how to work with nature.
This is the foundation of Regenerative Rice Systems, the method that we are implementing with Balinese farmers. As an integrative solution, it reconciles environmental sustainability and high yields using ecological processes and the selection of species that thrive in flooded rice ecosystems.