Location: Lam Luk Ka, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Crop: Rice
Focus: Urban air pollution (PM2.5), nitrogen fertilizer reduction, regenerative agriculture
Role: Anchor for peri-urban decarbonization, financing innovation, and digital MRV testing
Status: 🟢 On-going research 🟡 Early-stage implementation of CDR project; in certification process with Carbon Standards International (CSI)

🗺️ https://maps.app.goo.gl/r2PdHqnsEYXNKZGj9

📍 Project Overview

The Lam Luk Ka project is a strategic pilot by Happy Ground, supporting peri-urban rice farmers in transitioning to regenerative agriculture while addressing one of Thailand’s most urgent environmental issues: PM2.5 pollution from open-field burning.

This community of 35 farmers cultivating over 1,000 rai has been our trusted partner for the past five years through our work at Happy Grocers. Their strong local leadership, openness to innovation, and deep care for both land and people make them the ideal anchor for this early-stage work.

Located just outside Bangkok, the project also serves as a testing ground for innovative financing mechanisms and regenerative practices in year-round irrigated rice systems — helping us build scalable models for traceability, nitrogen reduction, and biochar adoption.

The site sits within a broader network of 8.2 million rai (1.3 million hectares) of irrigated rice farmland in Thailand, representing more than 350,000 households. What we learn here can guide system-wide transformation.

🌱 Environmental and Agricultural Benefits

• Air Quality: Reduces open-field burning, a major source of PM2.5 pollution

• Soil Health: Enhances organic carbon, structure, and water retention

• Fertilizer Efficiency: Supports responsible nitrogen use through precision guidance

• Carbon Removal: Enables insetting via high-durability biochar

• Climate Resilience: Builds soil function and reduces reliance on costly inputs

🔬 Technology and Methodology

• Biomass Source: Rice husk, straw, and residues

• Carbon Mechanism: Insetting (Scope 3 reduction), not offsetting

• Platform Tools: NDVI satellite monitoring, ground-truth soil data, farmer logs

• Verification Status: Undergoing certification with Carbon Standards International (CSI)

• Financing Innovation: Testing biochar co-benefits as a mechanism for alternative credit scoring and incentive design

📈 What’s Next

Lam Luk Ka is more than a pilot — it's the foundation of our national strategy. In partnership with the farming community and local agronomists, this site will anchor a 3-year research collaboration focused on biochar application, nitrogen fertilizer reduction, and regenerative transition at scale.

In 2025–2028, we will conduct six field experiments across both growing cycles:

• In-season: April–August

• Off-season: December–March

But the deeper aim is to uncover the economic and behavioral barriers farmers face in adopting regenerative practices. By learning what works — and what’s financially out of reach — we can design accessible financing and incentive mechanisms that help farmers transition with confidence.

Lam Luk Ka offers a unique lens into irrigated rice systems — where infrastructure is present, but the path to adoption still depends on the right blend of science, support, and affordability.

🌍 SDG Alignment 🇺🇳

This project contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 2: Zero Hunger – Promotes sustainable food systems and improves farm profitability

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being – Helps reduce harmful air pollution exposure

• SDG 4: Quality Education – Provides training, knowledge-sharing, and data access to farmers and agronomists

• SDG 5: Gender Equality – Encourages inclusive participation of women farmers and decision-makers in regenerative agriculture

• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production – Transforms waste into value and optimizes fertilizer use

• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities – Helps mitigate air pollution (PM2.5) in peri-urban areas surrounding Bangkok

• SDG 13: Climate Action – Enables traceable, long-term carbon removal and emission reduction

• SDG 15: Life on Land – Restores soil health and supports ecosystem function in rice landscapes

• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals – Builds cross-sector collaboration between farmers, technologists, corporations, and government to accelerate climate solutions