A paddy is a flooded field where rice is grown. Rice plants need lots of water to thrive, so farmers build low walls around flat fields and fill them with several inches of water. These waterlogged fields, called paddies or rice paddies, look like shallow ponds with bright green rice plants growing up through the water.

You'll find paddies throughout Asia, where rice has been the main food crop for thousands of years. In countries like China, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam, hillsides are often carved into stepped terraces, creating paddies that look like giant staircases climbing up mountains. Farmers plant rice seedlings in the muddy water during spring, and the fields stay flooded through the growing season. By harvest time in fall, farmers drain the water so they can cut the rice stalks.

Today, rice paddies feed billions of people worldwide, making them one of the most important agricultural innovations in human history.