NZ methane-busting seaweed cattle feed nears market

A New Zealand technology firm in the race to produce the world's first methane-busting cattle feed supplement made from seaweed is planning to grow and process seaweed in Southland. CH4 Global was founded by a group of local tech and bioscience entrepreneurs, and has been working with Australia's national science agency CSIRO, developing the product made from Asparagopsis armata - a native red seaweed which grows in New Zealand and South Australian waters. Co-founder Nick Gerritsen says trials of the product on sheep, dairy cows and feedlot beef cows in the US and in Australia show methane reduction effects ranging from 60 per cent to more than 90 per cent. CH4 Global has just received $500 thousand dollars from the Provincial Growth Fund to establish seaweed processing in Southland.