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Saving the Planet With Seaweed — For Cows?
from IdaHome--August
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
BY HAILEY MINTON
No. Really. This is a true story!
Dr. Ermias Kebreab and his team at University of California, Davis found that adding 1-3 ounces of red seaweed to a cow’s diet cuts their methane emissions up to 80%. The greenhouse gas that cattle (mostly) burp into the atmosphere is being produced by microbes in the gut of the animal. The seaweed has active ingredients that inhibit some of the enzymes needed by the microbes that result with methane production. Instead of releasing methane, the microbes release hydrogen.
The energy sector emits more emissions than agriculture, however the energy sector emits carbon dioxide whereas livestock emits mostly methane. Both are greenhouse gasses, but methane has about 28 times the warming potential than carbon dioxide. Kebreab says that even if all carbon emissions ended today, the warming is going to continue because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for thousands of years while methane only stays for around ten years. “If we are able to reduce the emissions now, we could reduce the absolute greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. That will lead to a reduction to the temperature quite quickly,” he explains.
Reducing methane will cool the environment in the short term while the world looks for ways to reduce carbon dioxide. Reducing methane emissions from cattle by 80% can make a big impact in Idaho since it is the third largest milk-producing state in the United States. In 2019, Idaho produced 16,241 million pounds of milk.
Kebreab says that when cows eat seaweed it doesn’t interrupt the digestive process in a way that negatively affects the animal. Studies are ongoing, but in the trial they’ve been running for the last five months, they haven’t seen any adverse effects. “If anything, there is better feed efficiency,” he says. “They are gaining more weight and eating less.”
This means it will cost less for farmers to feed their livestock. The 1-3 ounces of seaweed doesn’t change the taste of the meat or dairy from the cattle either. After performing scientific analysis of the taste of the meat, there was no significant difference between the taste of beef from cattle that were supplemented with the seaweed and cattle that were not.
As of right now, the red seaweed is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but it must be before “If they are saying that climate change it can be incorporated. The is the priority, then they’re going to have timeline for approval is difficult to incentivize or ask the FDA to work on to predict. It all depends on the FDA. Kebreab says that this and put more resources behind it the process for some products so they can approve it more quickly.” began four or five years ago and is still not approved. “It just depends on the regulatory processes,” Kebreab says, adding that it is difficult to say when the FDA will complete the process. Still, he emphasizes his hope that there will be pressure from the current administration to finish it as soon as possible. “If they are saying that climate change is the priority, then they’re going to have to incentivize or ask the FDA to work on this and put more resources behind it so they can approve it more quickly,” he adds.
Kebreab notes that there are other options to reduce methane emissions in cattle that are closer to market than seaweed, but in terms of effectiveness, nothing else compares. Kebreab works with organizations like Dairy Management Inc. and the Idaho Dairymen’s Association to disseminate their research. If and when it gets approved, that is how farmers will hear about it.
The cost of incorporating red seaweed into the cattle’s diet could be an inhibiting factor in getting farmers to adopt it. As of right now, it is unclear how much the red seaweed supplement will cost since it hasn’t been approved for commercial use yet. “We can speculate what it needs to be in order for farmers to adopt it, but that is work that is being done right now,” Kebreab says. The farmers and organizations with whom he has spoken are very interested. “They see this as part of the solution. I don’t think there will be any issue in terms of adopting, unless it hurts their bottom line,” he explains.
Another potential income source for farmers adopting this comes from carbon credits. Some state governments regulate how many metric tons of carbon a company can release at any given time. These states include California, Washington, and 11 states on the Northeastern coast. There is a cap for emissions and if a company goes over their allotted amount, they have to buy offsets or pay penalties. They can buy offsets from organizations that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With our present systems of energy and land use, preventing carbon dioxide emissions is not currently possible for most organizations. Buying carbon credits compensates for the unavoidable emissions that organizations create by financing projects that reduce or absorb carbon emissions anywhere in the world.
“The research is continuing and this has exciting potential,” says Kebreab. “I’m definitely looking forward to getting this into people’s hands.”