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Chipotle backs seaweed ‘methane tamer’ to ease emissions from beef and dairy

The fast casual chain's investment is accelerating the rollout of feed additives that may reduce bovine emissions by as much as 90 percent. But who is going to pay farmers to use them? Read More

Chipotle is investing an undisclosed sum in CH4 Global, the startup behind a feed additive for cows marketed as Methane Tamer. Source: Shutterstock/Ballygally View Images

A recent investment from Chipotle is the latest boost for a solution that promises to make a significant dent in emissions from beef and dairy production.

The fast casual chain announced in January it had invested an undisclosed sum in CH4 Global, the startup behind a feed additive marketed as Methane Tamer. Derived from a red seaweed known as asparagopsis, CH4 Global claims the additive cuts enteric methane emissions — bovine burps and farts — by up to 90 percent. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and enteric emissions, together those from manure, account for around a third of all anthropogenic methane releases.

Several other companies are developing asparagopsis-based additives, but CH4 Global is on a tear. The company announced last week that production had begun at what it says is the world’s largest commercial facility for growing Asparagopsis. Farmers in CH4 Global’s home country of Australia currently add Methane Tamer to the diets of around 400 cattle per day; the new facility in Louth Bay, South Australia, will scale production to serve 45,000 cattle per day by the end of the year, a company spokesperson said. The firm announced partnerships last year to distribute Methane Tamer to Asia, South America and North America. Chipotle’s investment will help CH4 Global continue to scale, the restaurant chain said.

Just a quarter teaspoon

A rival additive known as Bovaer has been developed by Dsm-Firmenich, a company that develops products for the nutrition, health and beauty markets and is headquartered in Switzerland and the Netherlands. Bovaer is based on a different active ingredient — a chemical known as 3-nitrooxypropanol — and is already available in more than 65 countries, including the European Union and the U.S. Dsm-Firmenich says that a quarter teaspoon of Bovaer per day reduces enteric methane emission by 30 percent for dairy cows and 45 percent for beef cattle.

“It’s exciting to see that Chipotle is investing in this space,” said John Tauzel, senior director for global agriculture methane at the Environmental Defense Fund. “What we really need to see is more companies putting investments into bringing these feed additives to market.”

Chipotle beef & bean stuffed chile peppers garnished with sour cream and scallions. Credit: Shutterstock/Arina Habich

One key problem that remains to be solved is the revenue model for feed additives. To an outsider, the cost of the additives appears small: for Bovaer, media reports have pegged it at 26-30 cents per cow per day. But Tauzel points out that small dairy farms in the U.S., which if defined as having less than 500 cows make up 85 percent of the total, make a profit of less than $250 per cow per year. “This means that almost half — and often more — of the profit per cow would go toward paying for Bovaer on the vast majority of U.S. dairy farms,” he estimated.

Who pays?

Producers, feed additive manufacturers and non-profits active in this space have identified several options for compensating farmers:

  • Food brands pay their farmers. Bel Group, the French manufacturer of Babybel and other cheeses, pays dairy operators an additional fee for using Bovaer. In the case of milk production, Tauzel calculated that if passed on to consumers, use of Bovaer would add 3 cents to a gallon of milk. The CH4 Global spokesperson said that a 5 percent increase in the price of beef can make Methane Tamer profitable for farmers.
  • Methane taxes. Products made from cows given feed additives would pay a lower tax, potentially making them cheaper. Denmark is the pioneer in this space: in 2030, the country’s farmers will pay a tax of $43 per ton of livestock methane. Ag taxes are unlikely to fly at a federal level in the U.S., but last week Democrats in Washington state introduced a bill requiring farmers to report methane emissions, prompting speculation that the same lawmakers are planning a methane tax in the future.
  • Carbon credits. These could be sold on the voluntary carbon market or purchased as insets, credits that can be used to offset value-chain emissions. Athian is a U.S. company that allows food companies to generate insets by investing in on-farm climate solutions. Last September, it introduced a protocol for use of Bovaer. The company would not share details of its customers but said that it expected to have more than 150 U.S. farms enrolled by the end of the year and that its target buyers are multinational consumer packaged goods companies, retailers, foodservice operators and processors.

Perhaps the most enticing possibility is that farmers won’t need to be compensated because the additives will pay for themselves. Cattle devote significant amounts of energy to creating methane and there are studies, as well as anecdotal reports from feed additive manufacturers, suggesting animals require less feed once methane production is halted.

“If we can make the same amount of milk with less feed that’s great,” said Tauzel. But he noted that “farmers are very much a ‘show me’ group. We need additional research in this space so we can demonstrate to farmers.”

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