Fieldays: Farmers expected to come on board as methane science advances

RNZ News

a day ago

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Science for Farmers tent at Fieldays.
Photo:
Eloise Gibson
The Prime Minister's new chief science adviser believes farmers will come around to technologies that cut their emissions.
Some farming groups oppose inventions like methane vaccines, but John Roche says farmers will accept change once they see the products work.
For a long time, one of the main concerns for farmers about tackling climate change was the lack of new technologies to lower emissions, without hurting productivity.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon listen to a speech in the Farmers for Science tent.
Photo:
RNZ / Eloise Gibson
Now emissions-cutting products are close to being launched, and some farmers are saying they don't want them.
Groups such as Beef + Lamb say methane emissions shouldn't be priced because it would force farmers to use products such as methane vaccines and other technology when they shouldn't have to.
Groundswell recently released a survey saying its members did not want to use methane-cutting products (called inhibitors) and didn't believe action on emissions should affect their access to overseas markets.
Fonterra, by contrast, has signed up to reduce dairy emissions to secure what it says are higher value exports to customers such as Nestlé.
Roche said although there was a noisy segment that still needed a little convincing he was confident most farmers will come round.
"New Zealand farmers have always adopted technologies that improve their efficiency, that improve the saleability of their products," he said.
"I think it will be the same here, and they will adopt the technologies as they come on board, as they become more affordable and importantly as they see other farmers use them and see that they work."
Roche splits his time between his new role as Christopher Luxon's chief science adviser and being the chief science advisor for the Ministry for Primary Industries.
John Roche has a split role.
Photo:
Supplied
He helped arrange a tent called Science for Farmers at Fieldays, where farmers could speak to researchers working on scientific innovations, including emissions-cutting products.
One stall housed rectangular planter boxes of lush pasture - not your typical ryegrass and clover, but diverse mixtures of up to seven species including the herb plantain.
Danny Donaghy from Massey University said these pasture mixtures should better withstand droughts and/or floods, and contribute less to the problem of global heating by releasing less nitrous oxide from the soil and methane from the animals that eat them.
Research funding group the Ag Emissions Centre was also there, sharing research showing dairy cow daughters inherit low-methane traits from their fathers. It said that paved the way for lower-methane breeding bulls from late 2026.
Less advanced, but moving quickly, was Lucidome Bio's methane vaccine, currently being trialled in Palmerston North.
Chief executive David Aitken said the company was aiming for a 20-30 percent reduction in methane from sheep and cattle lasting for about six months - and to have it on farms within five years.
"The vaccine stimulates antibodies in the saliva of the ruminant. The antibodies are then transported into the rumen, where they bind onto the methanogens that produce methane, inhibit the growth and reduce the amount of methane."
Over time the company hopes to get a productivity gain from the vaccine, since methanogens steal some of the animal's energy.
"But at the minimum we are looking at a solution that's neutral on productivity so we get the climate benefits without losing profitability or productivity."
At another stall in the tent, farm software company FarmIQ was explaining how its software can estimate changes in profits, production and emissions from changing various aspects of a farm.
Chief executive Gavin McEwen said farmers can already reduce emissions by one to five percent through measures like using less nitrogen fertiliser and reducing stocking rates, often without sacrificing production.
But bigger-hitting technologies are coming soon, like slow-release boluses that animals swallow to lower emissions.
Head of sales Russell MacKay, a fifth generation farmer, says good financial times should help farmers buy new climate tech.
"When the farmers are making money that means there more cash for...products, more money for fencing off waterways and bringing in new technology to help the environment."