A handful of seaweed a day will keep the methane away. That's what an eco-park growing and drying seaweed in Bluff will do, suppressing up to 98 percent of the methane in cows and sheep.
In a world first, an eco-park growing the special type of seaweed - asparagopsis, will soon begin to grow at a farm being built in Bluff.
Chief science advisor at CH4 global VP biology Michael Lakeman told AM the seaweed is grown, dried out and fed in small amounts.
"Just a handful a day, that interacts with their stomachs and suppresses the production of methane. Up to 98 percent reduction in methane."
Lakeman said if methane can be reduced it would have a cooling effect on the climate.
He said the construction of the seaweed farm will begin next month and by the end of the year, seaweed will begin to grow - by the end of next year seaweed will hit the shelves, feeding up to 15,000 cows.
But Lakeman said to begin with the target market will be in Australia because many of the cattle across the ditch are feedlot cattle, not grazing cattle.
"The seaweed works well with feedlot cattle, so cows that are eating a controlled diet."
He said his team is working on how the seaweed could work for cattle in a grazing system.
Watch the full interview above.
