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Livestock are responsible for 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the world's cars and trucks combined. And about 40% of livestock's global warming potential comes in the form of methane, a potent greenhouse gas formed as they digest their fibrous diet. New tools to reduce livestock's methane emissions are on the way.

Milk and methane seem to make strange bedfellows in Canada, a country that feeds on one and is trying to limit the other. Canadian dairy farms produce large quantities of both, and now Dalhousie University researchers are using satellite data and AI to track dairy farm methane emissions in an effort to help set realistic emission reduction targets. “When you compare methane to carbon dioxide, methane is much more powerful to trap the heat over 100 years,” said Suresh Neethirajan, associate professor and research chair in Dalhousie’s computer science and agriculture faculties. “Reducing methane emissions is much more critical for the climate goal. Yes, we have to control carbon dioxide, but reducing methane emissions is much more critical for the short-term climate goals. If you look at the dairy farms, if you look at who is producing the methane, of course agriculture is the largest contributor for methane in the climate. “Dairy farms are number one, so naturally we look at how ...

The University of Alberta in Canada is starting a five-year study into reducing methane emissions in beef cattle. The focus will be on the genetic component; one cattle produces less methane on the same ration than another. For dairy cattle, there has been a similar breeding value in Canada since April 2023.