They are using intellectual property licensed to FutureFeed,CSIRO's commercial venture,for a feed additive made from the native asparagopsis seaweed species,which reduces livestock emissions by more than 80 per cent.
Market demand is being driven by farmers'response to social pressure to tackle climate change,andAustralia's red meat industry has committed to become carbon neutral by 2030.
As steady rain hits much of Australia's drought-hit pastoral lands,graziers are switching their focusfrom selling for slaughter to breeding,kicking off the long process of rebuilding the nation's livestock herds from their lowest numbers in decades.
Butmore cows and sheep mean more greenhouse gas. Their gassy burps are loaded with methane,generated by their digestion process that involves microorganisms including methanogens,which produce methane as a byproduct.
Livestock production generates around 10 per cent of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions,according to CSIRO,and around 20 per cent of global emissions.
CSIRO scientist and Future Feed director Michael Battaglia explained that the asparagopsis has a"chemical that disrupts the last step in the breakdown process by the methanogens and stops them producing methane".