Technology

NZ methane mitigation begins in Aus cows

Construction has begun on what is set to be the largest facility in the world for growing methane-mitigating Asparagopsis armata. Hugh Stringleman spoke to the GM of the company behind the massive expansion drive in New Zealand and Australia.

CH4 Aotearoa is expanding land-based aquaculture facilities for growing Asparagopsis armata seaweed for methane mitigation in ruminant livestock.

The private company has opened its own research and small production facility with 10 tanks in what has been until now a NIWA fin fish aquaculture site in Bream Bay, Northland.

Climate Change Minister James Shaw visited the Ruakākā site recently for the opening, along with local Whangārei MP Emily Henderson.

At the same time stage one of a much bigger seaweed production eco-park has begun construction at Ocean Beach in Bluff, the site of the old freezing works that closed in 1991.

CH4’s New Zealand general manager, Nigel Little, is a former Fonterra executive leading the local arm of CH4 Global, just at the start of plans for massive expansion here and in Australia.

“At Ruakākā, we have built a commercial-scale hatchery and nursery to support marine farming, which is now being refocused on land-based farming of asparagopsis.

“This is alongside the construction underway of the Ocean Beach, Bluff, commercialscale facility, which we intend will be the first of many land-based production units.”

What CH4 calls the Ocean Beach eco-park is planned to have 500 bioreactors, which are vertical tank systems, manufactured in New Zealand, at a construction cost of $10 million.

“Assuming all goes to plan, we will be looking to build up to four

ENTHUSIASM: Staff members at the CH4 Aotearoa aquaculture facility at NIWA Ruakākā , in Bream Bay, Northland.

BEGINNING: At the start of CH4’s vertical bioreactors for the continuous production of red seaweed.

Assuming all goes to plan, we will be looking to build up to four of these eco-parks a year, so as to produce enough asparagopsis to feed all NZ dairy cows by 2035.

Nigel Little CH4 Aotearoa

of these eco-parks a year, so as to produce enough asparagopsis to feed all NZ dairy cows by 2035.”

In production, a bioreactor containing 30,000 litres of seawater grows filaments of asparagopsis that can be harvested at a rate of 10% a day while being continually replenished.

Typical seaweed-growing systems on shore are either ponds or horizontal raceways.

The CH4 bioreactor vertical configuration is a reticulated aquaculture system provided by Fresh by Design, an aquaculture equipment specialist commissioned to design and construct the facility.

“We are not the only ones around the world developing aquaculture technology for asparagopsis, but we think we are different in using bioreactors this large.

“Ocean Beach will be what we think is the largest asparagopsis growing facility in the world.”

When harvested, asparagopsis filaments are air-dried and then freeze-dried before being packaged, transported and fed to cattle.

CH4 Aotearoa is also working on lower-cost alternatives to freeze drying.

Production will go initially to meat processor CirPro and its feedlot partners in South Australia, where the addition of asparagopsis to continuous feeding systems has been validated and approved.

The first methane-reduced beef from that feedlot has been processed and consumed.

In Australia over the past five years, the CSIRO subsidiary FutureFeed has proven the methane-reducing efficacy of asparagopsis fed to cattle and now licenses the intellectual property to companies like CH4 and SeaForest, a company based in Tasmania with Fonterra as a partner.

FutureFeed is a consortium with Meat & Livestock Australia and the James Cook University.

Its livestock trials show up to 90% reduction in enteric methane at low rates when making up about 0.5% of food intake.

Feedlot cattle typically fed about 10kg of dry matter daily require only 50g of asparagopsis.

“Our asparagopsis production in NZ will go to Australia because of the demand from feedlots, and the protocols and approvals are in place,” Little says.

“In Australia the science is complete and there are 1.5 million cattle on feedlots at any one time, so that is the immediate market.”

In NZ the research on feeding of asparagopsis in the grass-fed system has to be commissioned and completed.

Milking herds fed in the farm dairies twice a day offer the best opportunity for this trial work, now underway with DairyNZ.

“Our initial studies show with the right dose and formulation we will get a good result in methane mitigation,” Little says.

Considerable investment is needed for the animal trials to

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establish efficacy and safety.

The new Centre for Climate Action on Agricultural Emissions would be an ideal funding vehicle, he suggested.

Any inhibitors subject to claims that they reduce methane emissions must now be registered as veterinary medicines, under an Order in Council for the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act made in July.

To achieve such registration may take millions of dollars and up to 10 years, Little says.

He thought asparagopsis for methane mitigation had been caught up in the regulatory changes as an unforeseen consequence of a Ministry for Primary Industries caution following the dicyandiamide nitrification inhibitor issues.

“For a natural ingredient like seaweed, the ACVM requirement is an unnecessary overhead.”

Another concern among officials is bromoform, a leading indicator of methane reduction through asparagopsis, but not the only active compound.

“The fear appears to be that it will get concentrated through milk and beef.

“At very high levels it is a volatile and toxic ingredient, but not at the very small quantities of asparagopsis being fed to cows,” Little says.

CH4 was founded four years ago by United States-based chief executive officer Steve Mellor and Guy Royal of Tuia Innovation in Wellington, with some backing from Tom Sturgess of Lone Star Farms.

To become CH4 Global the holding company was moved to the US in 2020 and funding of $20m raised, with participation by Sir Stephen Tindall.

A second round of funding for $100m is underway, being marketed to venture capital funds in the US.

CH4 also has several marine sites like Big Glory Bay, Stewart Island, where it monitors growth and conditions such as water temperature for asparagopsis, endemic to NZ and Australia.

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