From red seaweed to climate-smart cows: New Zealand leads the fight against methane

It is not exactly glamorous work. Measuring sheep farts is smelly, time consuming and expensive.

 There are five million cows in New Zealand, producing a lot of methane.

But for Dr Suzanne Rowe, a scientist who is breeding strains of sheep that emit less methane than regular flocks, there is nothing more important she feels she could be doing.

“New Zealand has really become a global leader in this space and there’s a lot of buzz around at the moment – it’s hugely exciting,” she says.

The release of methane gas from New Zealand sheep and cattle accounts for one third of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, the single largest contributor in the country.

Read the story from The Guardian by Eleanor Ainge Roy - “From red seaweed to climate-smart cows: New Zealand leads the fight against methane.”