An initiative for reducing enteric methane from ruminant livestock has submitted a bid for official recognition from the Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU) scheme.  By Leatherbiz.

The idea behind the initiative is to use native Australian seaweeds as additives to improve feed efficiency cattle. Initial tests using asparagopsis, a species of the red macro algae, showed that the additive enabled them to conserve energy that was previously being lost as methane.

In 2020, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) launched a start-up company called FutureFeed, with partners including promotional body Meat and Livestock Australia, to take the idea forward.

In the years that followed, FutureFeed carried out laboratory and field trials, published the results of its research in a series of papers in peer-reviewed journals, and won a number of major awards.

In mid-July 2024, FutureFeed was one of a number of organisations that submitted a formal expression of interest to its method for reducing methane accepted by Australia’s Emissions Reductions Assurance Committee (ERAC). The committee has the task of choosing ideas that the country will prioritise in its bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This follows an announcement in May 2024 from the minister for climate change and energy, Chris Bowen, outlining the process the government will follow to add new ideas to the ACCU scheme.

FutureFeed’s head of carbon and sustainability, Louise Robb, said: “We are pleased that we have been able to submit a very competitive expression of interest for a new feed additive method for livestock, and we are hopeful of getting through the first round.”

If the bid is successful, FutureFeed and its partners are likely to spend a further two years finalising the method that farmers will use to give the seaweed-based feed additives to their herds to achieve important reductions in on-farm emissions.