Location: Roi Et, Northeastern Thailand
Crop: Rice
Focus: Open-field burning (PM2.5), nitrogen fertilizer reduction, regenerative agriculture
Role: Anchor for rural decarbonization, co-benefit modeling, and national-scale insetting strategy
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 Roi Et project by Happy Ground is designed to demonstrate how rural rice farming communities can lead Thailand’s transition to regenerative agriculture — while directly addressing seasonal haze and air pollution caused by agricultural burning.

This pilot is based in an area that represents the majority of Thailand’s rice-growing systems: rainfed, in-season rice farming without access to irrigation infrastructure. These systems are typically the most vulnerable to climate risks and fertilizer dependency — making them a high-impact target for regenerative interventions.

With 4.61 million farming households cultivating over 9.92 million hectares of in-season rice across Thailand, Roi Et plays a critical role in shaping a model that can scale nationally. Through close collaboration with local leaders and farming groups, Happy Ground is co-developing a solution that improves both climate outcomes and farmer livelihoods.

🌱 Environmental and Agricultural Benefits

• Air Quality: Avoids burning rice residues — a key contributor to PM2.5 and transboundary haze

• Soil Health: Rebuilds organic matter and improves fertility in rainfed systems

• Fertilizer Efficiency: Reduces synthetic nitrogen use with data-informed application

• Carbon Removal: Sequesters carbon through biochar with high permanence

• Farmer Resilience: Equips rural farmers with tools to manage risk and reduce costs

🔬 Technology and Methodology

• Biomass Source: Rice straw and husk residues otherwise burned in open fields

• Carbon Mechanism: Scope 3 insetting, tracked through digital MRV

• Platform Tools: Ground-truth soil data, NDVI imagery, fertilizer use logs

• Verification Status: Integrated into Happy Ground’s pipeline for CSI certification

• Scaling Lens: Findings from Roi Et will inform national strategy for rainfed regions

📈 What’s Next

Roi Et will serve as a 3-year research collaboration focused on delivering traceable, field-level evidence of impact in rainfed systems.

• We will conduct one field research trial per year, starting in May and continuing through December — capturing full-season biochar application impacts

• Early-stage deployment of the Happy Ground Insetting Platform will begin during this timeline

• By 2026, we aim to produce robust agronomic data, fertilizer reduction insights, and digital traceability across smallholder clusters

Yet this research isn’t just agronomic — it’s also about understanding the adoption gap. We aim to quantify what support farmers actually need to reduce fertilizer use while maintaining yields, so we can tailor financing tools, subsidies, or market incentives that work at the grassroots level.

Roi Et represents a massive opportunity to ensure that climate-smart farming is not just effective — but also economically viable and scalable among smallholders who farm without irrigation across Thailand’s in-season rice farms.

🌍 SDG Alignment 🇺🇳

This project contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 2: Zero Hunger – Improves food security and income for rural farming communities

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being – Reduces respiratory harm caused by open burning

• SDG 4: Quality Education – Provides data, training, and tools to farmers and local agronomists

• SDG 5: Gender Equality – Supports inclusion of women in research and decision-making

• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities – Mitigates rural-to-urban air pollution impact

• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production – Converts agri-waste into biochar for long-term soil use

• SDG 13: Climate Action – Enables measurable, traceable climate impact through insetting

• SDG 15: Life on Land – Restores degraded farmland and supports sustainable land use

• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals – Built through collaboration across farmers, researchers, technologists, and value chain partners