5 days ago
CH4 Global seeks retailers for low-emission beef launch
Seaweed-based cattle feed producer CH4 Global is in talks with supermarkets, restaurants, butchers and other retailers as it launches into the next phase of its ambitious plan to eliminate a gigatonne of carbon emissions by 2032.
After launching its EcoPark production facility near Port Lincoln earlier this year, and commencing sales of its cattle feed supplement to farmers in South Australia, the company is now looking to partner with retailers at other end of the beef supply chain.
EcoPark at Louth Bay has begun growing and processing asparagopsis – a red seaweed native to SA which drastically reduces methane emissions by up to 90 per cent when added to feed for cows.
The facility also consists of a research and development hub, a seedling hatchery and harvesting and drying technologies to convert the seaweed into CH4's flagship Methane Tamer product.
During a visit to Adelaide to meet with retailers, CH4 founder and chief executive Dr Steve Meller said the company was now looking to partner with supermarkets, butcher stores and restaurants interested in stocking greener beef produced from cattle fed with the company's methane-busting supplement.
'We're trying to enable the supply chains around beef and dairy to be able to get products to consumers that have a dramatically lower carbon footprint by doing what we do on the front end with cows with Methane Tamer,' he said.
'We will be providing product to beef and dairy farmers, but the way we've defined our business model is that our customers are our consumer-facing partners, whether they are the large companies – like the partnerships we have with Mitsubishi or Chipotle in the US – or whether they're supermarkets or butcher stores or restaurants in Adelaide.
'We've found some interesting ways in our business to make sure the farmer puts money in their pocket, the retailers have additional products to sell that have these value-adds to them, and the consumer is willing to buy it.
'We're working to align partnerships with those retailers for that first beef that will be coming into the commercial markets in October. It's going to be hitting the retail shelves at select restaurants and supermarkets in Adelaide – initially starting with hundreds of cows per month ramping up to thousands in the near future.'
Earlier this year CH4 entered an agreement with Mitsubishi to accelerate the adoption of its cattle feed supplement across Asia-Pacific markets, with a focus on expanding commercial sales in Australia and introducing the product into Japan.
The EcoPark facility currently has 10 large-scale cultivation ponds with a combined capacity of 2 million litres – capable of producing 80 metric tonnes of seaweed each year.
CH4 intends to expand the facility to 100 ponds by next year, which could produce enough asparagopsis to serve 45,000 cattle per day.
Dr Meller said the facility had not been affected by the toxic algal bloom that had devastated nearby fishing communities, given the asparagopsis is grown on land using heavily filtered water from the ocean.
Having raised around $100m from investors in the six and half years since the company was established, including from US restaurant chain Chipotle's Cultivate Next venture capital fund, CH4 is now looking to raise more capital for the EcoPark expansion.
'The next phase of what we plan to build is about $50m – that's what we're focused on now, to build the next stage on exactly the same site, on the land that we already have access to, under the permits that we already have in place to ensure we grow supply because of the high demand we see now,' Dr Meller said.
'We are a global company and we have demand for almost 10 million cows outside of the US, with multibillion-dollar global corporates where we are working with our partners on regulatory approvals. That's when we get to large scale. In order to get to there it's the small steps now that matter – and the next step for us is to validate the entire end-to-end commercial proposition with consumers in market.
'That's what we're doing in Adelaide – I want to build this Adelaide base and I want to make it unique.' Investors back methane-busting feed producer
Originally published as CH4 Global seeks retailers for low-emission beef launch
