The New Zealand Fund for Global Partnerships in Livestock Emissions Research

The New Zealand Fund for Global Partnerships in Livestock Emissions Research (the Fund) is a contestable international research fund set up by New Zealand in support of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. New Zealand Agriculture Minister David Carter announced the Fund at a ministerial meeting of the Alliance in Rome on 24 June 2011 and the first round opened on 19 September 2011.

The Fund is worth NZ$21.62 million and is aimed at accelerating global research into mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from pastoral livestock farming. It draws on the $45 million New Zealand committed to the Alliance in 2009, and it will be allocated over four years, ending 30 June 2016. The total funding available for the second round totals NZ$15 million, and supports proposals up to three years in duration. The size of individual proposals is expected to be in the range of NZ$1–3 million over the three years.

The second round of the Fund seeks proposals in response to a set of high-level research challenges that were identified by an international strategic science panel, chaired by the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor Professor Sir Peter Gluckman. These challenges were in the areas of:

• Manipulating rumen function
  Research that leads to the development of practical and safe ways to manipulate rumen microbial communities and/or ruminant physiology in grazing ruminants such that methane per unit of feed intake is sustainably reduced, animal health and nutrition is maintained and animal productivity maintained or increased.
• Reducing nitrous oxide emissions from soils in predominantly grazing livestock systems
  Research that will further develop and extend practical and cost effective methods of manipulating nitrification and de-nitrification processes in soils to consistently reduce nitrous oxide emissions and nitrogen losses to the environment from soils under grazing livestock and within a broad range of geographic and climatic conditions.
• Manipulating the rates of soil carbon change in predominantly grazing livestock systems
  Research which identifies and quantifies management practices that can increase long-term soil carbon storage in grazing livestock systems under varying (and changing) climatic conditions, different soil conditions and management histories while maintaining or increasing pasture and animal productivity.
• Improved information for farmer decision making in predominantly grazing livestock systems
  The creation of scientifically proven, well quantified and practically relevant decision support information that will allow farmers to devise and implement modified practices that would demonstrably reduce greenhouse gas emissions per unit of output in grazing livestock systems. This information needs to be underpinned by research that addresses gaps in our current knowledge and considers the full range of physical, economic, social and environmental drivers and constraints on farm operations.

The Fund is open to international scientists, and multi-stakeholder/country consortia bids are encouraged. International co-funding is expected. Projects can be led by a New Zealand participant or one from an Alliance member country but if the latter, must meet minimum New Zealand participation requirements.

The final portfolio of projects will aim to achieve a balance between innovative science and the achievement of cost-effective and sustainable solutions for livestock farmers in New Zealand and around the world.

Please note that the first and second rounds for the Fund has now closed. Please check back to this webpage for periodic updates.

Outcomes of the first round of the fund

• Round 1 of the Fund sought proposals in response to one or more of four grand research challenges.
  • Challenge One: Manipulating rumen function
  • Challenge Two: Reducing nitrous oxide emissions from soils in predominantly grazing livestock systems
  • Challenge Three: Manipulating the rates of soil carbon change in predominantly grazing livestock systems
  • Challenge Four: Improved tools for farmer decision making in predominantly grazing livestock systems
• Four projects to the value of $6.62 million have been accepted for funding in two of the four research challenges:
  
  Challenge one
  • Deep sequencing the rumen microbiome, $2.0 million, Dr Graeme Attwood, AgResearch.
    This project brings together leading rumen microbiology researchers from NZ, Australia, USA, Ireland and France to deep sequence the rumen microbiome in order to better understand the processes that contribute to methane formation in sheep and cattle.
  • Accelerated discovery of methanogen-specific inhibitors, $1.12 million, Dr Ron Ronimus, AgResearch.
    The main goal of this project is to develop a high-throughput screening method for rapidly identifying novel anti-methanogen inhibitors, based on the efficient testing of inhibitors against methanogens growing in 96-well culture plates. The team includes NZ, Australia, USA and Japan.
  • Vaccine to reduce methane emissions in ruminants, $1.0 million, Dr Neil Wedlock, Agresearch
    A leading New Zealand research team will aim to identify adjuvants (substances that trigger production of antibody responses to the vaccine) to produce a vaccine which targets methanogens in the rumen.
  
  Challenge Two
  • Animal delivery of DCD in urine by provision in feeds, $2.5 million, Dr Stewart Ledgard, Agresearch
    A cost-effective nitrous oxide mitigation technique, based on animal delivery of the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD) in urine via provision in feeds, will be evaluated in field plot and grazing system studies across different locations in NZ, Australia and Ireland. The team includes these three countries.
  
  Challenge Three
  • Not projects funded
  
  Challenge Four
  • No projects funded