The livestock industry's rush towards a 2030 carbon neutral goal looks set to open farm gates across Australia to Dutch firm, Royal DSM, which has spent a decade developing a biological stock feed supplement which inhibits gut methane.
Just a teaspoon of the enzyme blocker in a cow's daily diet will cut beef methane emissions by up to 90 per cent, and 30pc in dairy herds.
In a busy month of deal making, DSM has signed supply agreements for its Bovaer dietary ingredient with the big North Australian Pastoral Company; US animal health giant, Elanco, and European dairy co-operative, Arla Foods.
In March it also launched a large scale pilot study providing 200 farmer suppliers to the Netherlands' FrieslandCampina dairy co-op with practical help to make intensive European livestock supply chains more environmentally sustainable.
While the likes of CSIRO's FutureFeed and New Zealand dairy kingpin, Fonterra, are enthusiastically looking to commercialise methane-suppressing feedstuffs made from asparagopsis seaweed, DSM has jumped out of the blocks in the past six months with Bovaer's commercial release in Brazil, Chile, the European Union and Australia.
A $2 billion market
DSM estimates the global methane reduction market for cows alone is worth up to $2 billion a year, with just the US carrying 33 million beef and dairy cattle on feed.
It claims even a million cattle supplemented with Bovaer would achieve the same greenhouse gas cuts as taking 300,000 cars from the road.
In Brazil, the first country to approve Bovaer last September, the health, nutrition and bioscience player has partnered with global meat giant, JBS, introducing the feed supplement to its South American supply chain.
Royal DSM, which generated about $13b in global sales last year, already operates a sizeable livestock nutrition division in Australia based on its pre-mix plant at Wagga Wagga.
It has a workforce of about 60 preparing ingredients for stockfeed manufacturers and intensive livestock feeders' requirements.
Overseas the company is also big in human health and nutritional products, food and beverage ingredients, and plant-based meat, dairy and fish alternatives.
Bovaer's ruminant methane blocking capabilities are achieved via a combination of nitrate and biologically-based alcohol building blocks which already exist in the animal's digestive system.
They suppress enzymes responsible for triggering methane production in sheep, goat or cattle stomachs.
Last year research conducted by the University of New England and backed by Meat and Livestock Australia found methane reductions of 60pc to 90pc in lot fed steers over 112 days, without any impact on weight gain or feed conversion ratios.
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"There's nothing unnatural about how it works in the animal's digestive system, and research shows methane emissions revert to normal levels within 24 hours if the supplement is stopped," said DSM's Bovaer vice president, Mark van Nieuwland.
"We started working on this innovation 10 years ago, well before the methane suppression interest we're seeing today began.
"In that time 48 on-farm trials in 14 countries have shown Bovaer additives can directly contribute to significantly reducing the ecological footprint of meat, milk and dairy products."
Given livestock accounted for about 16pc of the world's global greenhouse emissions, DSM was anticipating plenty of global interest in the feed supplement and "a large number of regulatory approvals this year."
Bovaer's initial big scale Australian customer, NAPCo, is one of the country's largest beef producers, with a herd of 200,000.
It has its own Five Founders carbon neutral beef brand, launched in 2019.
NAPCo prides itself on what it calls a patient long term view of beef production and a focus on sound environmental management.
NAPCo game-changer
Chief executive officer, Allan Cooney, said the pastoral company saw Bovaer as a game-changer for its supply chain.
"It will contribute significantly to reducing methane emissions from our herd, and will be an important step in our drive for sustainable production," he said.
With the product's capabilities fast gaining global recognition he was pleased NAPCo secured a supply early.
The pastoral company's intensive production and sales general manager, James Carson said its trials with Bovaer showed there was "absolutely no change to quality or flavour, just better beef".
He said launching the Five Founders carbon offset beef brand had been a first step towards a long term goal of "investing in the planet" and now integrating Bovaer into the herd's diet was the next on NAPCo's road to net zero emissions.
Its cattle stations had also transitioned from fossil fuels to renewables and were planting and grazing legumes (desmathus) to improve soil carbon capture and reduce methane output.
Although Royal DSM will supply its Australian customer base from Wagga Wagga, Bovaer will actually be produced in its European plants, including a new facility in Scotland.
However, in the US production rights have been granted to Elanco as part of a strategic alliance to help keep pace with anticipated demand.
The Americas represents about a third of DSM's total health and nutrition market, but the Bovaer alliance is tipped to produce a "blockbuster" product for Elanco Animal Health to sell worth about $280m a year.
In Europe, the big Arla Foods dairy and retail co-op group will roll out Bovaer supplements on an initial 50 farms carrying 10,000 cows in Germany, Denmark and Sweden, then double that number next year.
DSM's Mr van Nieuwland said the company was well positioned in Australia to develop supplies to both the beef and dairy sectors.
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