$4.6mfor farm emissions research

A Palmerston North-based consortium aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from animals has secured $4.6 million in funding across seven years from industry and the Government.

The Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium will receive new funding from the agriculture sector and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to continue its research. Consortium manager Mark Aspin said a new programme of activity was planned.

‘‘The new work aims to develop a suite of ready-made tools that will reduce greenhouse gases by 30 per cent by 2030 while supporting the agricultural industry’s growth targets of 2 per cent each year.’’ The research will focus on: Refining animal breeding tools for low-emissions livestock.

Identifying more low greenhouse gas feeds.

Identifying inhibitors that reduce ruminant emissions.

Developing a vaccine to reduce ruminant emissions.

Understanding the productivity effects and enhancing the adoption of mitigations.

The research work will be led by AgResearch.

Mr Aspin said the consortium had been around for 10 years, and its contract ran out last year, so it had applied for more research money.

‘‘We’re well advanced in breeding and forage development and we could have that in farmers’ hands in three to five years. The inhibitors and vaccines could be [ready in] five to seven years.

‘‘We’re completely focused on developing technologies that are practical and can be readily adopted by farmers.’’