Preventing Cow Burps With a Pill

A supplement with methane-busting properties is an alternative to seaweed

- Sybilla Gross

To prevent cows from belching methane, the meat industry is experimenting with adding seaweed to their feed. But harvesters of Asparagopsis, the edible red algae that prevents the greenhouse gas from forming in bovine bellies, may struggle to meet climbing demand.

One Australian startup, Rumin8 Ltd., is offering a synthetic alternative that mimics seaweed's effects.

Methane is the second-largest cause of global warming, and livestock contribute an estimated 32% of emissions generated from human behavior. Just counting the 1.5 billion cows raised for meat globally, that's 231 billion pounds of methane each year. Giving cows seaweed in their feed could cut 98% of their methane emissions, according to one study.

The relatively recent discovery of the methane-busting powers of Asparagopsis has given rise to a new sector of marine farmers and producers of feed additives.

Seaweed takes about four months to be ready for harvest and requires vast tracts of open water to grow; intensive farming could have negative effects on other aquatic life. And it doesn't come cheap: A report from Australia's Commonwealth Bank in September estimated that producing a year's supply of seaweed for the country's beef industry alone could cost A$132 million to A$1.62 billion ($89 million to $1.1 billion).