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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-02 Daily Xml
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Livestock Methane Emissions

The Hon. R.B. MARTIN (14:30): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Will the minister please update the chamber on research into reducing methane emissions from livestock?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:30): I thank the honourable member for his question. Methane emissions from livestock account for approximately 10 per cent of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions, and over 14 per cent of South Australia's total emissions. There is growing impetus for livestock producers to reduce methane emissions to secure market access as well as to align with industry commitments for emissions reductions. I might say that those industry commitments have been quite significant.

Multiple feed additives have been identified that have the potential to reduce methane production in livestock. These additives can reduce methane in the range of between 30 per cent and 90 per cent; however, they have largely been tested in feedlot-type conditions. Most of the methane-reducing feed additives must be consumed by livestock regularly and in small amounts in order to maintain effectiveness.

A significant barrier to adoption of methane-reducing feed additives is developing ways to deliver them to grazing animals in frequent dose-controlled portions that are cost-effective, that are efficient and that are easy to implement on a commercial scale. Ninety-five per cent of Australia's livestock are extensively grazed, so development of suitable delivery technology for extensively grazed livestock will be critical in enabling livestock producers to reduce methane emissions.

I am pleased to advise the council that PIRSA has been awarded $695,909 specifically in grant funding from stage 2 of the Australian government's Methane Emissions Reduction in Livestock program, or MERiL for short. Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) will provide a further $300,000 cash co-investment to support this research. The research will focus on adaptation of commercially available water delivery technology for the delivery of methane-reducing additives for grazing sheep.

The outcome of the research program will be to develop technology that can effectively deliver water-soluble methane-reducing additives to grazing sheep via trough water. The technology developed will be scalable, cost-effective and able to be implemented with existing farm water infrastructure, which is very important in terms of uptake by primary producers.

The MERiL grant funding announcement was made on 23 October by the Australian government in conjunction with an announcement that Australia will become a signatory to the Global Methane Pledge. The Global Methane Pledge is an agreement to reduce methane levels by 30 per cent below 2020 levels by 2030. Over 120 countries are signatories to the Global Methane Pledge, including the US, the UK, the European Union and South Korea.

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