Good flooding? Scientists use rice cultivation to preserve soil in Florida’s Everglades Agricultural Area

Growing rice can slow soil loss and the lowering of surface elevation. Frank Bienewald/Getty Images

Each summer, nearly 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares) of rice is cultivated in the Florida Everglades Agricultural Area, a roughly 1,100-square-mile (2,800-square-kilometer) area south of Lake Okeechobee.

Farming here requires a delicate touch. The area has lost nearly 6 feet (1.8 meters) of soil in the past century through a process called subsidence.