New funding committed to greenhouse gas research

News Release

14 September 2007

New funding committed to greenhouse gas research

An extra $1.2 million a year has been committed for research by the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Consortium (PGgRC), increasing its investment to $5m each year for the next five years.

PGgRC is a joint government and industry partnership, half funded by the Foundation for Research and Technology and half by industry groups including Fonterra, Meat & Wool New Zealand, Dairy InSight, FertResearch, Deer Research, PGG Wrightson and AgResearch.

“This is a significant boost to our work in finding ways to mitigate methane and nitrous oxide - the two main agriculture greenhouse gases,” PGgRC Chairman Mark Leslie said.

Building on leads already identified, PGgRC has six research themes planned for next five years. They include rumen ecology, methanogen genomics, the development of a methane vaccine, animal selection, farm systems and adoption, and nitrous oxide mitigation.

“We have successfully developed science in these areas over the last five years and the partnership between industry and government will continue to provide research into the challenges presented by agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the commercialization of leading opportunities.”

Mr Leslie says promising leads for methane mitigation that could lead to vaccines to reduce methane emissions, as an example, have been discovered. The Consortium has also enabled the initial validation of nitrous oxide mitigations through the use of feed pads and nitrification inhibitors. This research will continue, he says.

“We’re also working collaboratively with international scientists to improve the sector’s understanding of what can be done by farm businesses to remain competitive in a carbon constrained world,” he says.

Mr Leslie says as well as developing a range of opportunities, the research has fed data into the New Zealand greenhouse gas inventory, improving the accuracy of New Zealand’s accounting under the Kyoto Protocol.

The Consortium was set up in 2002, to develop mitigation for agricultural greenhouse gasses prior to New Zealand signing the Kyoto Protocol. It will continue to be a world leader as it works to increase understanding of the rumen that underpins livestock production efficiency.

Mr Leslie says five years ago there was concern that New Zealand’s research capability was seriously under-strength in this area.

“We have turned this perception around. With a team of about 20 scientists we are leading the world in the search for global solutions to methane emissions,” he says.

Mr Leslie says the strength of the consortium is the effective partnership between industry and government. However it is also important to recognise the leadership the industry had taken - having contributed $15m to the research with a further $25m committed over the next five years.

“The Consortium is continuing to discuss further opportunities with new investors and partners to grow its investment and would welcome approaches from interested parties,” he says.

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