AFP

Scientists in New Zealand try to Tackle Cow Emissions

Scientists have long accepted that gas from farm animals is a major factor in climate change, but how do you stop cattle and sheep from doing what comes naturally?

Published: about 1 year ago
Categories: World, Asia/Pacific, Oceania, Science, Scientific Research, Climate & Environment
Topics: Agriculture
People: Neil Sands
Places: New Zealand
Tags: greenhouse gases, cows
Transcript: SCRIPT: These cud chewers may look quite innocent, but their bodily functions are environmental villains. Nitrogen in urine turns into nitrous oxide and evaporates into the atmosphere. Every belch is a little puff of methane because, unlike humans, cows pass gas through their mouths. Livestock is responsible for 18 percent of the world's emissions of greenhouses, according to the United Nations. In New Zealand, with about 35 million sheep and eight million cows, the percentage is more than half. That's why scientists at the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre are hard at work measuring ever burp, as part of a $50 million programme aimed at curbing emissions. Cows and sheep are studied for two days at a time, with an intricate tubing system that monitors their methane output. SOUNDBITE 1: Peter Janssen (man), principle investigator, New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (English 15 secs): "We can then vary the conditions, for example give the animal different feed, use different animals, administer a vaccine, or administer an inhibitor, and understand how the amount of methane changes with those different treatments." Small chambers like this one measure the nitrous oxide released after a herd has grazed. This research is aimed at improving technologies like sprays that that farmers can apply to their pastures to make it easier for plants to use up the excess nitrogen. SOUNDBITE 2: Surinder Saggar (man) scientist, Landcare Research (English, 10 secs): "The issue with nitrous oxide is it's global warming potential is 310 times more than a molecule of carbon dioxide." So what's to say that farmers will actually adopt practices that are going to cost them? SOUNDBITE 3: Rick Pridmore (man) sustainability officer, Dairy NZ (English 21 sec) "So if it keeps that nitrogen in the plants and it grows more grass, you might break even and more farmers will use it. Right now, we're still not convinced it does that, so until there is a reason, like a carbon tax or trading scheme, most farmers will be a little bit hesitant to spend the money right now." Attempts at introducing a carbon tax have been less than popular in agricultural industries worldwide In New Zealand, a proposed levy on livestock farmers was mocked and called a "fart tax" even though farts have nothing to do with it. --------------------------------------------------- SHOTLIST: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, NORTH ISLAND. NEW ZEALAND. MARCH 26, 2012 (SOURCE: AFPTV) - Cow chewing cud - Cow urinating - Wide shot of cow urinating - Two cows in a field - Cow licking its nose - Long-haired cow with calf - Various shot of sheep in a paddock - Wide of landscape with cows grazing PALMERSTON NORTH, NEW ZEALAND. MARCH 5, 2012 (SOURCe: AFPTV) - Peter Janssen in the control room of an AgResearch experiment - Janssen entering room with cows - Close on cow in perspex box, used for monitoring methane output - Sheep in box -wide of many boxes (with sheep) - Close on tubing - SOUNDBITE 1: Peter Janssen (man), principle investigator, New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (English 15 secs): "We can then vary the conditions, for example give the animal different feed, use different animals, administer a vaccine, or administer an inhibitor, and understand how the amount of methane changes with those different treatments." - Surinder Saggar in the laboratory and Landcare - Saggar demonstrating with equipment used to measure nitrification - SOUNDBITE 2: Surinder Saggar (man) scientist, Landcare Research (English, 10 secs): "The issue with nitrous oxide is it's global warming potential is 310 times more than a molecule of carbon dioxide." HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND. MARCH 26, 2012 (SOURCE: AFPTV) - Rick Pridmore walking beside a paddock at DairyNZ (Palmerston North, New Zealand) - SOUNDBITE 3: Rick Pridmore (man) sustainability officer, Dairy NZ (English 21 sec) "So if it keeps that nitrogen in the plants and it grows more grass, you might break even and more farmers will use it. Right now, we're still not convinced it does that, so until there is a reason, like a carbon tax or trading scheme, most farmers will be a little bit hesitant to spend the money right now." - Cows in a field - Sheep in a field ---------------------------------------------------- AFP TEXT STORY: NZealand-farm-emissions-climate-research,FEATURE New Zealand gas research to help farmers' bottom line by Neil Sands =(PICTURE+VIDEO)= PALMERSTON NORTH, New Zealand, May 1, 2012 (AFP) - Scientists have long accepted that gas from farm animals is a major factor in climate change, but how do you stop cattle and sheep from doing what comes naturally? That's the question consuming researchers in New Zealand who hope that by measuring every belch and bleat of their sheepish subjects they can come up with a solution. Researcher Peter Janssen says the project, in which the animals are kept in perspex boxes so that their emissions can be measured, has the potential to make a real difference in the fight against global warming. "The renewed emphasis on climate change, plus new technologies, have given us hope that we can do something that wasn't possible before," said Janssen, who is working on a vaccine to stop livestock producing methane. Global livestock numbers are being driven higher due to increased demand, particularly for beef and dairy products as a result of human population growth, leading to increases in emission levels. The UN estimates 18 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change come from livestock. But the figure is even higher in New Zealand, where about 35 million sheep and eight million cows account for half the greenhouse gas emissions in an economy heavily reliant on primary industry. In a nation which prides itself on its "clean, green" image, New Zealand is keen to minimise the problem and has established a NZ$50 million ($41 million) programme aimed at curbing agricultural emissions. "(It) is probably the largest and certainly the most comprehensive in the world," said Janssen who is the principal investigator at the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre. The problem is the animals are ruminants, meaning they partially digest their food by fermenting it in a compartment of their stomach before regurgitating it, along with copious methane, so it can be chewed again as cud. As part of the programme, scientists house cattle and sheep in perspex boxes for two days at time to find why some tend to produce less gas than others and measure how different foods affect gas levels. The centre in the North Island town of Palmerston North uses genome sequencing -- determining an animal's hereditary information -- to try to minimise the large amounts of methane gas that sheep and cows naturally produce. "New technologies, particularly in genome sequencing, have allowed us to understand methane microbes in a way that was just not possible in the 1960s and 1970s," Janssen said. "We can now identify those organisms and target them specifically to work on vaccines for inhibitory molecules that target only methane-producing microbes." Dairy NZ sustainability spokesman Rick Pridmore, whose organisation works with scientists at the Palmerston North centre, said not all attempts to reduce agricultural greenhouse gases in New Zealand had gone down well with farmers. He said that in 2003 the government tried to address the issue by imposing an annual research levy on livestock farmers but scrapped the idea after a backlash over a policy that was widely mocked as a "fart tax". Pridmore said while the title was a misnomer -- 90 percent of the methane from livestock comes from burps, not flatulence -- opposition to the proposal among farmers was real. "Even the public didn't get it," he said. "In New Zealand, I think it was probably fair to say we were sceptical about climate change. "But that's all changed in the last five years or more, I think farmers are on board now." The major goal, described as a "silver bullet" by the dairy industry, is the quest for a vaccine that will prevent livestock generating methane altogether. Pridmore said a low-cost vaccine would not only help the environment by reducing the amount of methane released into the atmosphere but increase digestive efficiency in livestock, meaning they required less feed. "That's called a silver bullet and right now I would say that silver bullet is probably about 15 years away," he said. "Once it comes in, I think every farmer would want to use it." END

Scientists in New Zealand try to Tackle Cow Emissions | NewsLook

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Scientists in New Zealand try to Tackle Cow Emissions

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