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User-friendly Greehouse Gas calculators to assess water-saving practices in rice fields in Arkansas
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  • Beatriz Moreno-García,
  • Kosana Suvočarev,
  • Colby W. Reavis,
  • Benjamin R. K. Runkle
Beatriz Moreno-García
University of Arkansas

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Kosana Suvočarev
University of Arkansas
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Colby W. Reavis
University of Arkansas
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Benjamin R. K. Runkle
University of Arkansas
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Abstract

Globally, the scarcity of water makes it necessary to look for alternative practices to increase sustainability in agricultural systems. In the US, Arkansas is the largest rice producer with a great water demand, which contributes to the decline of the state’s groundwater resources. Different practices are proposed to decrease the on-farm water use, and hence decrease both greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with flooded periods and the use of energy to pump water. In this work, five water-saving practices are evaluated: Alternate Wetting and Drying, Row Cropping, Land Levelling, Multiple Inlet Rice Irrigation with Polypipe, and the use of new hybrids. Over the last years, due to the climate change concern, a number of GHG calculators have been developed to assess agricultural practices. These tools are designed to have a user-friendly interface, and they are based on IPCC emission factors and both process-based and empirical models. Cool Farm Tool, that provides an estimate of CO2eq emissions per unit of area or grain yield, was identified in one study as the highest-rated tool available in the public domain for single crop assessment. Fieldprint calculator provides a more extensive data output, reporting the impact of agronomic practices in five resource areas, including GHG and irrigation water use. The comparison of one farm’s impact against the state and country average are additionally provided. Comet-Farm, another of these tools, can compare actual farm practices with alternative future scenarios. Therefore, one of the challenges when using these tools is the comparison between them, mainly due to differences in scope, calculation methods, and reporting units. In the present work, we aim to assess water and GHG emissions saving potential of the five experimented water¬¬-saving practices by outputs of the three user-friendly calculators. The ease of use, similarities, and differences between these tools will be evaluated. Ten rice fields with different water-saving techniques are under our observation in Eastern Arkansas. Data collected from sensors installed in the fields and inquiries from farmers will be used as inputs for these tools. This work aims to advise farmers on the implementation of these practices with the final aim to encourage statewide adaptation of water-saving incentive strategies.