Methane is a pretty potent greenhouse gas. We get methane as a natural by-product from the digestive process as evidenced by the measurable amount of gas associated with dairy farms. We also get methane from such places as rice paddies as the rice sort of ferments.

Over the last dozen or so years, the patterns for draining rice fields have changed in China. The changes have come in the form of draining the fields more often. This has been motivated by gaining a bigger rice crop. It worked. Coincidentally, the amount of greenhouse methane gas has been reduced by about 40-percent. Cool. Less methane, more rice -- what a deal.

We learn about all this gaseous stuff from detailed research carried out by various departments of agriculture and, of all things, satellites. You use a computer model in which you plug in factors to include weather, soil properties, crop types and rotations, tillage, fertilizer, manure use and water management.

Satellite data from the NASA/U.S. Geological Survey Landsat Thematic Mapper are combined with the other computer data to model the methane emissions from pretty much all the rice in China.

An interesting side note: 86 percent of the water resources in Asia are used in rice growing -- and the demand for that rice is predicted to increase by 70 percent over the next 30 years.

(Comments? Questions? Pilaf an email to ideas@Gizmorama.org)