Meat wellness, well done
Newly published research shows overseas consumers have a strong interest in improving their wellbeing through eating red meat, highlighting opportunities to achieve a premium for products with proven health benefits.
New research into genetics and breeding could lead to New Zealand raising livestock with lower nitrogen emissions and so lower greenhouse gas effects.
Two research projects are looking into the possibility of a link between the nitrogen content of milk and animal emissions, and the possibility of identifying then replicating genes to control the level of animals’ nitrogen emissions.
Fonterra’s Less Footprint programme manager, Dr Mike Scarsbrook, says the research is showing that what an animal eats, and genetic factors, play a part in how much nitrogen it excretes.
“This means if animals with lower nitrogen emission can be identified, that trait can be bred into the national herds and the whole country can benefit from lower emissions,” he said.
Nitrous oxide is a small but critical part of NZ greenhouse gas emissions, making up 12% of all emissions in 2016. Like methane, nitrous oxide is a strong contributor to climate change because it more effectively traps heat than carbon dioxide – by about 300 times.
But unlike carbon dioxide, which can last for thousands of years in the atmosphere, nitrous oxide breaks down in about 114 years.
AgResearch, Massey University, DairyNZ and Abacus Bio are the research partners and Fonterra is helping to fund it.
AgResearch has also filed for a patent that builds on this work and provides an option for new tools to identify the low-emitting animals at a genetic level.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
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