BiomEdit, an Indiana-based microbiome innovation company, has announced a $4.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop solutions that reduce methane emissions from cattle and enhance feed efficiency.

The grant will fund BiomEdit efforts that target the microorganisms responsible for enteric methane emissions in cattle (cow burps) with the goal of reducing methane production as a byproduct of the animal’s natural digestive process. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, ruminants contribute nearly 30 percent of global methane emissions, 77 percent of which comes from cattle.

"The energy that would normally go toward creating methane emissions will be redirected toward feed efficiency,” BiomEdit CEO Aaron Schacht told AgFunderNews. The approach would provide a direct benefit to smallholder farmers and pastoralists in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia by reducing the cost of feeding cattle, while also providing incentives to monetize emission reductions as a greenhouse gas offset.

“The approach we are taking should have application in both large livestock production systems and small-scale production scenarios,” said Schacht. “If you provide a product that simultaneously reduces methane emissions and increases feed efficiency, then the livestock producer directly realizes the benefits and gains further potential value if the methane emission reduction can be monetized.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Ole CNX)