Climate Feed

“Seaweed in cattle feed to reduce greenhouse gas from burping dairy cows”

Seaweed could contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. The research project Climate Feed will develop seaweed feed supplement with funding from Innovation Fund Denmark. There’s a huge potential in reducing cows’ emission of methane and, consequently, greenhouse gases.

The major part of agriculture’s emissions of CO2 and greenhouse gases come from ruminant cows: each cow burps between 200-500 liters methane every day. Through the research project Climate Feed, Danish researchers and companies are joining forces to change this trend. 

Certain types of seaweed contain strong antioxidants and tannins which can help stop the development of methane in the cows’ rumens.

Climate Feed has a project budget amounting to 17M DKK, of which 11.7M have been donated by Innovation Fund Denmark. The research project will run from 2019-2023 to develop methods for cultivating, harvesting and processing/drying seaweed into finished goods, such as powder or pellets, which the farmer can easily supplement to the cattle. The product must contain verified and stable active substances, which reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from the cattle – without deteriorating the milk yield, flavor or quality. 

Partners

Technological Institute – Aarhus University – DLG – Vilofoss – Ocean Rainforest Sp/F – Danish Seaweed – DryingMate – Naturmælk – SEGES – University of Waikato