The New York–based startup Mitti Labs has built technology that measures methane emissions from rice paddies and uses the data to train hundreds of thousands of farmers in climate-smart practices — a labor-intensive approach that venture capital firms often shy away from.
So how has Mitti secured funding? The answer lies in partnerships.
The company recently began collaborating with The Nature Conservancy to promote regenerative, no-burn agriculture in India, it told TechCrunch. As part of the deal, Mitti will apply its AI-powered models to measure, report, and verify the nonprofit’s on-the-ground efforts to help farmers adopt climate-friendly methods.
“Most of the project operations on the ground are handled by locals from the villages where these initiatives are taking place,” said co-founder Xavier Laguarta.
For now, Mitti’s core focus is on projects that cut methane emissions from rice cultivation. But the startup is expanding its software to serve third-party developers and corporations. “We can measure Scope 3 emissions from other project developers or corporations that are working with rice farmers,” Laguarta explained, describing the offering as a SaaS solution for those already running field programs.
Mitti isn’t alone in this approach. Mati Carbon, winner of the Xprize Carbon grand prize, also develops measurement, reporting, and verification software — though its work centers on enhanced rock weathering, which both removes carbon and fertilizes soils.
Mitti’s projects generate carbon credits from methane reductions. Its platform tracks the credits, with the company taking a percentage of sales and channeling the rest back to farmers and their communities. According to Laguarta, participants typically see a 15% boost to their income, a crucial lifeline for smallholder farmers working on razor-thin margins.
The startup gathers methane data from rice farms through satellite imagery and radar, which penetrate clouds, crops, water, and soil to reveal underground microbial activity — the primary driver of methane emissions in flooded rice paddies. This information is then processed by AI models trained on satellite data and field studies.
Given that rice farming accounts for 10–12% of global methane emissions, a gas 82 times more potent than CO₂ over 20 years, the impact could be significant.
In India, where the average farm is just one hectare (2.5 acres), physically monitoring emissions would be cost-prohibitive. Mitti’s use of remote sensing keeps verification affordable, while its partnerships help scale climate-friendly practices to millions of farmers.
“Ninety percent of rice is grown in Asia, and aside from China, most rice-producing regions share these smallholder dynamics,” Laguarta noted. “Our deep partnership with The Nature Conservancy allows us to build tools that can be applied to many other programs across the region.
