ZEST BIOTECH
Methane is the second-largest contributor to climate change, which means Nathan Balasingham’s work with pastures is of global importance.
Nathan Balasingham, a scientist and inventor with more than 40 years’ experience in crop biotechnology, is pushing for the agriculture industry to embrace his technology, which he says improves feed efficiency conversion in livestock.
Methane is the second-largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide. The bodily functions of livestock are a primary source of methane emissions, with ruminant animals – which include cattle, sheep, buffalo, goats, deer and camels – producing them as part of their normal digestive processes.
While estimates vary for total emissions from global livestock, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates livestock are responsible for about 14 per cent of all greenhouse emissions from human activities. Nathan Balasingham, a scientist based in New Zealand’s Pukekohe, says he has
“UREA WASTE CAN FALL BETWEEN 20 TO 48 PER CENT.” NATHAN BALASINGHAM
developed technology to reduce methane emissions from livestock, and farmers who have tried his products swear by them for increasing pasture and ruminant productivity.
Balasingham is the founder of Zest Biotech, providing products that claim to promote optimal plant health and livestock performance.
Included in the Zest range of products is Biozest, an organic pasture spray utilising technology that improves pasture growth and quality while reducing pest, disease and environmental damage.
Biozest works by triggering responses from plants’ immune systems and increasing the production of phenylpropanoids: bioactive compounds that play a vital role in plant development and protection from pest, disease and environmental stress. The increased phenylpropanoid content in Biozest-treated pasture increases the food conversion efficiency of sheep, cattle and goats, resulting in increased milk and meat production and less of the feed wasted as urea, methane and nitrous oxide. As a result of increased pasture production, more carbon is sequestered. Meanwhile, less feed converted into urea and methane means less pollution and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
The Zest Biotech range also includes Agrizest, a product for horticulture using the same technology platform as Biozest. Balasingham has been trialling his Zest technologies for more than a decade. He first tested the effect of the technology on plants using Agrizest, drawing on his extensive experience in the kiwifruit industry as an orchard manager and consultant, as well as his experience in trial design, which he gained while working for pharmaceutical giant Bayer and chemical company BASF. “Having proven that the Zest technology can elicit the range of benefits of phenylpropanoids when applied on trees and vines, we formulated Biozest, a formulation suitable for soft tissue plants like pasture and annual crops,” explains Balasingham.
Further trials have been undertaken with Biozest, including large-scale trials carried out on entire herds or farms, as well as smaller-scale controlled split paddock trials.
“We have proven that when sheep, goats and cattle graze Biozest-treated pasture, milk and meat production can increase by over 30 per cent and urea waste can be reduced by between 20 and 48 per cent,” says Balasingham. He says his science has also been reviewed for the inventors’ selection for the World Technology Awards, for which he was nominated in the Individual Biotechnology category in 2013.
He has also presented the technology at multiple local and international conferences.
Despite this, Balasingham continues to face resistance, including being rebuffed by industry lobby groups and Crown Research Institutes (government-owned science research businesses).
Balasingham is critical of New Zealand’s current science funding model – he believes it is the biggest barrier to the success of new technologies and says it “makes it difficult for our scientists to undertake any work that does not contribute to the development of the CRI’s own intellectual property”.
“The CRIs are now corporatised and it may not be in their commercial interests to engage with what they view as competing technologies,” he says. However, for Balasingham, the success of his products is demonstrated by the fact that he has experienced a groundswell of support from farmers themselves.
“Many are tired of the negativity and gloom and are seeking out solutions themselves,” he says.
“They can see that using Biozest increases productivity as well as reducing their environmental liabilities. The tide is turning. In the end it doesn’t matter what our competitors say – if it works, it works.”
Balasingham’s products have been used by growers and farmers in New Zealand for more than 10 years, but he is working hard to increase uptake of his products.
“We have started holding farm meetings to present information directly to farmers about Biozest, and we have also formed alliances with helicopter and ground spray application contractors. We’re growing the business by word of mouth. We are confident that farmers who try Biozest, and follow the directions, will see the results for themselves.”