Feed supplement likely the first methane tech
Methane reduction technology has been picked by the Climate Change Commission to cut agriculture’s methane emissions by 30 percent, starting from 2025.
The technology identified as nearest to commercial availability is Bovaer, an animal feed supplement which prevents a bacteria living in the rumen from producing methane.
The global life sciences company DSM has been running a research programme with AgResearch and Otago University for the past three years on a formula that pasture-based farmers can use. Cows fed those prototypes in 2019 reduced their methane output by up to 49 percent.
In January DSM announced a partnership with Fonterra on
accelerating and advancing New Zealand trial work and determination on the range of options for its use across farm systems. An on-farm trial will determine whether Bovaer can deliver a long-lasting reduction in methane.
Mark van Nieuwland, Global Programme Director for DSM, says there is no definite date for completion and commercialisation, but DSM and its New Zealand partners have prioritised finding a pasturebased solution.
Van Nieuwland says the solution would need to be costeffective and easily adopted by farmers, and able to be counted against NZ’s GHG inventory.
‘‘Commercial viability of the product will depend on the value to farmers and New Zealand of methane reduction and the ease of using the product compared to other potential mitigation strategies.’’
DSM says it will undertake the regulatory process in parallel with the trials over the coming years. The Government held a public consultation on the regulatory framework for the use of environmental products and Bovaer was acknowledged in that process.
New Zealand is not alone in adopting methane reduction technology. Bovaer is already under registration in other parts of the world. In February DSM announced that a trial conducted with the Dutch dairy giant Friesland Campina and Wageningen Dairy Campus had achieved between 27 and 40 percent methane reduction. Valio, Finland’s largest dairy company and ranked number one as the most sustainable company in
Finland, announced a collaboration to use Bovaer in a program to make their value chain carbon neutral by 2035.
Many trials have demonstrated Bovaer’s efficacy in beef and lambs. A two-year trial with a Canadian Research Consortium involving 15,000 beef feedlot cattle gave methane mitigation of between 31 and 80 percent (depending on the ration and dose) with no negative effects on animal health, performance parameters or carcass traits. The trial alone saved 1500MT of CO2 equivalent emissions.
Fonterra’s collaboration with DSM ensures New Zealand is in a leading position to roll out this technology for its farmer owners once the science is validated in a pasture-based systems.