AN agtech start-up launched in Western Australia has been able to apply pharmaceutical know-how to replicating compounds in nature that have anti-methanogenic properties.
The world-first means feed supplements to reduce methane emissions by as much as 95 per cent in cattle can be developed in a new way, likely to be far more cost-efficient to the producer and in formats that will be viable for grazing animals.
Rumin8 describes itself as a climate technology company and already has global animal health companies and large food chains knocking on the door.
It is about to kick off extensive trials of its products involving every state in Australia and across the pastoral, feedlotting and dairy sectors.
The star product reproduces, in a laboratory, the bioactive contained in red asparagopsis seaweed, which the CSIRO has identified has significant methane-reducing traits when fed to livestock in a breakthrough that has kickstarted what is expected to be a billion-dollar seaweed growing industry in Australia within decades.
Managing director David Messina said the identification of asparagopsis' anti-methanogenic properties was a game changer in terms of reducing methane emissions from ruminants.
What Rumin8 has done is reproduced the bioactive contained in asparagopsis artificially, instead of harvesting and extracting it from plants.
While scientists have been able to do that prior, for application in chemical laboratories, it has not been in a stable format, Mr Messina explained.
"What we've been able to do is stablise the product, which enables it to be carried in different formats and made into a product that can be fed to cattle - from a liquid to a solid and in a slow-release dose format," he said.
The end result is a highly efficient, low cost, scalable process to feed livestock in order to reduce their emissions.
Trials of Rumin8's first product at the University of Western Australia reduced methane production by more than 90pc by day three, with almost total elimination by day five.
The trials were also used to identify optimal dosing rates to achieve the required reductions in methane emissions.
"We have applied a low-cost, pharmaceutical-grade product to the challenge of radically reducing methane emissions in agriculture," Mr Messina said.
"History tells us when you take a natural product and replicate it, it's very scalable, very quickly.
"As a result we expect it will be far more cost effective than an organic product and easier to transport and distribute.
"We acknowledge the diversity of farming systems used to grow animals does prove a challenge for methane reduction which has proven difficult to solve. We are developing a range of formulations which can be delivered to both feedlot and grazing animals."
While it is expected the path to commercialisation will take several more years, the strong, cross-sector interest already being expressed from around the globe was clear recognition of the enormous demand for solutions to methane emissions, Mr Messina said.
Rumin8, based in Perth, also expects that its products will have significant productivity benefits for farmers as energy normally lost to methane production is instead converted into higher growth rates.
Australia's red meat industry declared its ambitious goal of being carbon neutral by 2030 in 2017 and industry leaders and scientists say feed supplements will be a key pathway to that goal.
Already great strides have been made. In less than 20 years greenhouse gas emissions from the red meat industry's burping ruminant livestock have declined almost 60pc, according to the industry's big service provider Meat & Livestock Australia.
Rumin8 is now partnering with the University of Western Australia, University of Melbourne and the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to assess the repeatability of the laboratory trials in animal trials.
"We're confident that there will be productivity benefits - increased growth rates or milk production - for farmers who use Rumin8 products," Mr Messina said.
"It would be an optimal outcome if Rumin8's products to reduce methane emissions from livestock and are paid for through productivity gains."
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