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OPINION: The Irish have come up with a novel way to measure cow belching, which is said to account for 70% of total agri-emissions in Ireland.
While Jack Pilkington and Alan O'Donovan, co-founders of County Offaly-based Agri Data Analytics, don't dispute this figure, they say it would be way more accurate if "bovine belching" was measured more precisely.
They suggest their answer to the problem, a breathalyser for cows, could give greater insight into the problem, in Ireland and further afield, helping determine if farmers are shouldering disproportionate blame for climate change.
The system works by automatically reading a cow's identity tag when it approaches feed, then the breathalyser starts drawing air from the feeding trough once they begin to eat. Traditional hands-on testing can be stressful for livestock, something the duo wanted to avoid, so they encouraged the cattle to comply with testing voluntarily, using feed to entice cattle to the trough.
Lucidome Bio, a New Zealand agricultural biotech company was recently selected as one of fourteen global finalists to pitch at the Animal Health, Nutrition and Technology Innovation USA event in Boston.
OPINION: Last week's announcement of Prime Minister’s new Science and Technology Advisory Council hasn’t gone down too well in the science community.
OPINION: At its recent annual general meeting, Federated Farmers’ Auckland province called for New Zealand to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
OPINION: On the 2nd of May, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced that the 'government remains on track to ban full farm-to-forestry conversion'.
OPINION: It's not happening as fast as the greenies would like - they actually want all livestock other than Muscovy ducks and Tibetan Llamas to disappear entirely - but it is happening.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters often describes NZ as a small and isolated nation situated 'just north of the penguins' but says in terms of global affairs, NZ and other small nations should be judged on the quality of their arguments and not the size of their military.
Use of agricultural drones by contractors in New Zealand is soaring.
A deterioration in the quality of New Zealand's wool clip is a problem for manufacturers and exporters, says Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has sought to silence critics who insist that New Zealand should be responding hard and publicly to US President Donald Trump's tariff policy.
The Primary Production Select Committee is calling for submissions on the Valuers Bill currently before Parliament.
Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) says that commercial fruit and vegetable growers are getting ahead of freshwater farm plan regulations through its Growing Change project.
