The French company announces a Series A of 7 million euros to develop its rice decarbonization programs. Its approach combines satellite monitoring, emissions modeling and climate financing, with one challenge: deploying water-saving practices on small farms, while producing verifiable results.
CarbonFarm: key figures
- €7 million surveyed in series A.
- 19 countries interventions announced by CarbonFarm in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
- 2022 : creation of the company.
- Wassily Carantino and James Hastwell : co-founders, CEO and CTO respectively.
- Satellite monitoring, field data and modeling to document practices and quantify emissions from rice fields.
In a rice field, water management also determines part of the emissions. Keeping the soil continually flooded limits the presence of oxygen and encourages microorganisms that produce methane by decomposing organic matter. Introducing controlled drying periods can interrupt these conditions. The gesture seems simple, however its deployment on thousands of small plots requires agricultural organization, financing and proof.
CarbonFarm seeks to connect these three dimensions. The startup supports stakeholders in the rice sectors in the design, financing and monitoring of programs aimed at reducing emissions. It announces a fundraising of 7 million euros to strengthen its technology and its project development capabilities.
Acting on methane to slow short-term warming
Methane has a warming potential approximately 80 times greater than that of CO₂ over twenty years, for equal mass. Its atmospheric lifespan is of the order of a decade. Reducing emissions therefore makes it possible to act relatively quickly on the rate of warming, in addition to reducing CO₂, the effects of which have a much longer duration, according to the United Nations Environment Program.
Rice cultivation represents an important source of this gas. Rice also feeds around half of the world’s population: improving its footprint must remain compatible with maintaining harvests and agricultural income.
The alternation of irrigation and drying, called Alternate Wetting and Drying or AWD, meets this double constraint. The International Rice Research Institute, IRRI documents water savings of approximately 30% and methane reductions of 30 to 70%, depending on application conditions.
A scientific synthesis published in 2026, covering 91 meta-analyses, observes for all water-saving technologies an average reduction in methane of 50%, accompanied by a slight average drop in efficiency of 3%. Intermittent irrigation presents a better compromise than completely non-flooded systems. Soils, varieties, climate and fertilization practices must therefore be included in the design of programs, and the balance must also take into account other greenhouse gases, in particular nitrous oxide, whose emissions can change with the management of water and fertilizers.
Saving water requires being able to irrigate at the right time
The benefit of AWD goes beyond the carbon footprint, because reducing water supplies can reduce pressure on resources and certain irrigation expenses, but the farmer must be able to reintroduce water when the crop needs it.
Trials presented by IRRI in Bangladesh observed lower water consumption and higher profits when farmers paid according to their consumption, effects that were not observed with flat seasonal pricing.
For a farmer, the collective climate benefit must therefore be translated into a concrete proposition: keep their harvest, control their costs and, possibly, receive additional income. Carbon financing can contribute to this equation, provided that its remuneration and deadlines are sufficiently clear.
Rely on existing sectors
CarbonFarm favors partnerships with producers, cooperatives, agri-food companies, NGOs, governments and local developers. These organizations support farmers; the company brings its project development expertise, its monitoring tools and its access to financing and buyers.
“Scaling up will not come from replacing local players in value chains; it will come from the means we give them,” explains Vassily Carantino, co-founder and general manager of CarbonFarm. “They understand agricultural systems and have the relationships necessary to evolve practices. »
This organization must make it possible to develop the activity by mobilizing existing networks. It also makes the quality of programs dependent on training, agronomic monitoring and the execution of partners in the field.
Satellites observe practices, models estimate emissions
The system combines AI satellite image analysis, field data collection and greenhouse gas modeling. It aims to monitor practices at the plot level, then to quantify their climatic consequences. This chain falls under MRV: measurement, declaration and verification.
The distinction is essential, because satellites provide information in particular on water management; Emissions are then estimated using models powered by several types of data. A collaboration with Regrow Ag thus combines CarbonFarm remote sensing with the DNDC biogeochemical model.
The interest is to document dispersed plots by reducing dependence on manual declarations and systematic visits.
The claimed “high integrity” responds to a specific sectoral context. In August 2024, Verra rejected 37 Chinese rice projects, notably for overestimated areas, insufficiently demonstrated additionality and incomplete evidence on the practices applied. This decision did not concern CarbonFarm, but highlights the importance of auditable documentation and independent verification.
Two outlets, benefits to be allocated precisely
CarbonFarm is aimed at agri-food companies wishing to reduce emissions from their supplies, as well as buyers of carbon credits. The former seek to improve their Scope 3 balance sheet, which notably covers their indirect emissions linked to purchases; the latter finance reductions according to a certification framework.
These uses require specifying who can claim the results. The GHG Protocol distinguishes business accounting from credit certification and provides requirements to avoid double counting of progress.
Regulated outlets also exist under conditions. Verra indicates that certain projects using its VM0051 rice methodology can provide credits to the CORSIA aerial system, in particular subject to authorization from the host country.
Competition already organized around rice
CarbonFarm is evolving alongside specialists like Mitti Labs and Rize. The first combines satellite technology and programs with operators; it announced an agreement with Google for one million credits to be delivered by 2030. Rize combines agronomic support, monitoring and marketing of low-emission rice; the company says it works with 17,000 farmers on more than 50,000 hectares in Vietnam and Indonesia.
Internal sector programs and local developers also constitute alternatives, while being able to become customers or partners of CarbonFarm. The ability to equip them should allow the company to find its place in the face of players who are more integrated into agricultural operations.
CarbonFarm claims activity in 19 countries and cites relationships with Mars Food, Diageo, Ebro, Tilda, BASF Agricultural Solutions, Livelihoods Funds and Google, as well as development organizations.
Co-founded in 2022 by Vassily Carantino and James Hastwell, CarbonFarm announces a €7 million Series A led by Colam Impact, with Proparco, Suma Capital, elea, Working Capital Fund, Albo and Bpifrance. Historic investors Racine², led by Serena and makesense, and Techmind are renewing their support. This round follows a €2.5 million seed round announced in October 2023. The funds are expected to strengthen technology and project development, deepen presence in Asia, Africa and Europe, and accelerate expansion in Latin America.
Funding
