Bill Gates supports a startup that deals with cow farts and burps

• A seaweed-based feed being developed by Australian start-up Rumin8.
• The company aims to make the additive in pill form in addition to adding it to cow food.
• Legislation to minimize methane emissions from cattle is being considered in certain nations.

It turns out that burps can be very profitable. A seaweed-based feed being developed by Australian start-up Rumin8 to lessen the amount of methane emissions cows create through their farts and, to a lesser extent, burps, has been backed by billionaire Bill Gates.

A strong greenhouse gas is a methane. Despite having a shorter atmospheric lifetime than carbon dioxide, it has 84 times more potential to cause global warming over a 20-year period. Livestock is responsible for around one-third of all methane emissions in the world, with beef and dairy cows contributing the most.

Methane is produced by cows’ stomach microbes when they break down their food, but adding seaweed to their feed has been demonstrated to drastically reduce the amount of the planet-warming gas emitted. According to a 2021 study, cows fed tiny amounts of seaweed over several months witnessed a more than 80% reduction in their methane emissions.

Red seaweed’s bioactive component, which is used by Rumin8, is converted into a feed supplement (Asparagopsis). According to the business, laboratory tests have indicated that the additive can cut methane emissions by up to 95%.

The business claims that by generating the seaweed in a lab rather than through farming, costs can be kept to a minimum. The company aims to make the additive in pill form in addition to adding it to cow food.

According to a spokesperson for Gates’ fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which oversaw the $12 million investment round, “technologies that can reduce emissions from the existing cattle supply chain today and in the future are critical.” Although livestock agriculture continues to be one of the world’s cheapest sources of protein.

Rumin8 claimed that it has received additional funding from two climate funds and plans to make a modest amount of the food commercially available by the end of the year.

Solutions like methane-reducing feed additives have come under fire for their potential to divert attention from the real causes of the climate crisis caused by livestock, such as the enormous amount of land required to keep animals and cultivate crops for their feed.

According to Rumin8 CEO David Messina, cows continue to be a significant source of nutrition for many people. In an email to the news, he said, “Our solution is worldwide and will give both developed and developing countries a methane reduction product that will have a tremendous influence on global emissions in agriculture.”

Legislation to minimize methane emissions from cattle is being considered in certain nations. The New Zealand government revealed plans to charge farmers for the burps of their animals in October in an effort to encourage them to cut emissions.

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