Seaweed in cattle feed can eliminate 99.9% of methane
An Australian idea that won a $1 million prize at the end of 2020 can almost entirely eliminate methane emissions from cattle according to one of the scientists who developed the project.
Researchers from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), from meat industry promotions body Meat & Livestock Australia and from James Cook University in Queensland launched a project to examine the effect on emissions of adding a native seaweed, asparagopsis, to cattle feed.
They found that adding a handful of the seaweed to the diets of beef and dairy cattle almost eliminated methane emissions from the animals.
From this, they launched a start-up, FutureFeed, which went on to win one of the Food Planet Prize awards of $1 million from the Curt Bergfors Foundation at the end of 2020.
One of FutureFeed’s directors, CSIRO scientist Dr Michael Battaglia, said the start-up would seek to use the prize money to help develop asparagopsis cultivation on a commercial scale, particularly in projects with First Nations people.
Speaking to Australian media in mid-February, Dr Battaglia said that replacing just 0.2% of current cattle feed with asparagopsis was enough to eliminate 99.9% of methane emissions.
His colleague, FutureFeed chief scientist, Dr Rob Kinley, has said of the idea: “We now have a solution that is a simple plug and play into existing feeding systems to reduce emissions and help farmers and producers create more food and build new and more sustainable businesses and enterprises.”
