News Release
14 September 2007
New funding committed to greenhouse gas research
An extra $1.2 million a year has been committed for research by the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Consortium (PGgRC),
increasing its investment to $5m each year for the next five years.
PGgRC is a joint government and industry partnership, half funded by the Foundation for Research and Technology and half
by industry groups including Fonterra, Meat & Wool New Zealand, Dairy InSight, FertResearch, Deer Research, PGG Wrightson and AgResearch.
“This is a significant boost to our work in finding ways to mitigate methane and nitrous oxide - the two main
agriculture greenhouse gases,” PGgRC Chairman Mark Leslie said.
Building on leads already identified, PGgRC has six research themes planned for next five years. They include rumen
ecology, methanogen genomics, the development of a methane vaccine, animal selection, farm systems and adoption, and
nitrous oxide mitigation.
“We have successfully developed science in these areas over the last five years and the partnership between industry and
government will continue to provide research into the challenges presented by agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, as
well as the commercialization of leading opportunities.”
Mr Leslie says promising leads for methane mitigation that could lead to vaccines to reduce methane emissions, as an
example, have been discovered. The Consortium has also enabled the initial validation of nitrous oxide mitigations
through the use of feed pads and nitrification inhibitors. This research will continue, he says.
“We’re also working collaboratively with international scientists to improve the sector’s understanding of what can be
done by farm businesses to remain competitive in a carbon constrained world,” he says.
Mr Leslie says as well as developing a range of opportunities, the research has fed data into the New Zealand greenhouse
gas inventory, improving the accuracy of New Zealand’s accounting under the Kyoto Protocol.
The Consortium was set up in 2002, to develop mitigation for agricultural greenhouse gasses prior to New Zealand signing
the Kyoto Protocol. It will continue to be a world leader as it works to increase understanding of the rumen that
underpins livestock production efficiency.
Mr Leslie says five years ago there was concern that New Zealand’s research capability was seriously under-strength in
this area.
“We have turned this perception around. With a team of about 20 scientists we are leading the world in the search for
global solutions to methane emissions,” he says.
Mr Leslie says the strength of the consortium is the effective partnership between industry and government. However it
is also important to recognise the leadership the industry had taken - having contributed $15m to the research with a
further $25m committed over the next five years.
“The Consortium is continuing to discuss further opportunities with new investors and partners to grow its investment
and would welcome approaches from interested parties,” he says.
ends