Agriculture First crops for methane-reducing meals ready in 2021.
After years of development and hype over the benefits of feeding seaweed to livestock, Australia is set to have more eco-friendly, faster-growing cattle by next Christmas.
Led by Sea Forest in Tasmania, seaweed farmers hope to produce the world’s first commercial crops of asparagopsis – the seaweed found by CSIRO researchers to slash methane emissions from cattle’s burps and farts when added to their feed.
FutureFeed, the licence distribution company formed by CSIRO and now backed by mining billionaire Andrew Forrest and others, calculates it will take about 1000 hectares of farmed seaweed to feed 2 million cattle.
Research shows that adding a small amount of seaweed concentrate to cattle feed cuts methane emissions by more than 80 per cent, and suggests the animals also grow faster because of more efficient digestion.
FutureFeed ended 2020 by collecting the world’s richest prize in sustainable food production, the $US1 million ($1.3 million) Food Planet Prize from the Curt Bergfors Foundation.
The award recognised FutureFeed for ‘‘its benefits to the climate and environment, while also having the potential to improve profits and livelihoods by opening up a new global industry in seaweed farming’’.
A focal point of asparagopsis seaweed farming is Sea Forest’s operations at Triabunna on Tasmania’s east coast.Another company, CH4 Global, plans to farm asparagopsis off the coasts of South Australia and New Zealand. And Hawaii-based Blue Ocean Barns is planning to boost operations as it eyes a slice of a global market for the feed additive predicted to grow to billions of dollars a year by 2030.
FutureFeed chief executive Andrew Gatenby said Sea Forest was the most advanced of the emerging players and expected to have commercial volumes available in the Australian market towards the end of 2021.
Mr Gatenby said that FutureFeed – which is co-owned by the CSIRO, Mr Forrest’s private company Tattarang, Woolworths, GrainCorp and AGP Sustainable Real Assets-Sparklabs Cultiv8 – was working on approvals from food regulators in the US, Europe and other jurisdictions.
‘‘Effectively we are an IP company with a role as enablers where we invest in more research, development work and market access,’’ he said.
FutureFeed is in talks with the Clean Energy Regulator about establishing a carbon methodology for the product so the livestock industry can earn carbon credits on top of the financial benefits expected to flow from improved growth rates and being able to market carbon-free beef or dairy goods.
‘‘The [federal] government has talked of late of looking at technology as a way to improve Australia’s emissions footprint and this is one of those technologies that is in their sights as making a difference,’’ Mr Gatenby said.
Agriculture comprises about 13 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse emissions, with most of that being methane from livestock.
FutureFeed is about to kick off commercial-scale testing at a cattle feedlot in Queensland aimed at reinforcing trials that have shown lower emissions and improved growth rates.
Sea Forest co-founder Sam Elsom said the company was already producing a small amount of asparagopsis to supply initial customers Kingston Wool, where it is being fed to merinos with the aim of producing a carbonneutral clothing range, and dairy giant Fonterra as part of a six-month trial in Tasmania.
Sea Forest is growing asparagopsis in land-based tanks and in the ocean near Triabunna, where it has a marine lease covering nearly 2000 hectares. The company raised $5 million to kickstart farming of the seaweed, which is part of Australia’s native marine ecosystem, and is now fielding investor interest from international environmental funds eager to see it expand.
Mr Elsom said Sea Forest was trying to balance the demand for commercial-scale production with expanding the farming operations.
‘‘The faster we go with developing the marine farm, the less likely we are to sell large volumes because we need the biomass to expand,’’ he said.‘‘When we were out raising money, people were saying, ‘How are you going to get farmers to use this stuff?’‘
‘In fact, we haven’t put focus on marketing yet and we’re trying to manage the amount of interest from really big names in beef and dairy. Fonterra have given no indication they want to stop after their trial, Woolworths have indicated they want a carbon-neutral product on shelves soon.
’The seaweed additive works best in dairies and feedlots where cattle receive a regular feed ration, but FutureFeed is working on liquid and pellet forms for the pastoral industry.Part of the Food Planet Prize will be put towards that work.
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Ash here.
RIC isn't part of the Asparagopsis project, though it probably should be. Beef farmers shrug at the methane reductions but not at the superior animal growth. Watch this space.
Ash
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