Essentially novel tech in agriculture is a new way of doing things on farm that reduce emissions. It is a broad topic that includes digital agriculture, crop genetics, electrification, microbial additions, probiotics and more. Each new technology has a trove of research and development behind it as scientists look to find ways to improve on farm efficiency, sustainability, and profitability.
Fonterra is investing heavily in novel tech and we're committed to ensuring our shareholders see benefits from it. There are a range of options on offerand we're developing a portfolio of novel tech so that farmers can select the mitigation options that work best on their farm. Our research so far has given us the confidence that farmers can realistically anticipate reductions in on farm emissions by around 7% or more by taking up some of the mitigations.
Here are some of the novel tech options on the table:
Kowbucha™
There are numerous methane inhibitors being used internationally but not many of these fit the New Zealand farming system all that well. We need a methane inhibitor that fits and protects our pasture-based system, which is why we're investing in Kowbucha™. Kowbucha™ is a really promising probiotic that has the potential to reduce emissions for every litre of milk produced through early life intervention.
Fonterra has one of the largest dairy culture portfolios in the world. We looked at the fermentation cultures and strains that we have in our current portfolioto produce cheese and yoghurts and came across a dairy culture strain that has an impact on cow's digestion. Just as kombucha is a popular gut health product for humans, Kowbucha™ is targeting the enzymes in the gut to reduce methane produced by cows. Our field trials have indicated that it has a impact on the animals being able to reduce methane, improving their health and improving the quality of milk produced.
Seaweed
We're also looking at natural products to help solve our challenges. Another promising innovation is the use of seaweed. We're running real world trials in Tasmania - which has a very similar look and feel to dairy farms in New Zealand - to test out this novel tech. We're at the point now where cows are being fed this seaweed supplement on commercial farms and it's giving us the chance to understand the impact on the cow, on the milk, the reduction in emissions, economics and scalability of the tech. We're looking to understand the impact on the cow, the milk, the environments and the products.
Agrizero
Another thing we've done is partner with the government and a number of other major agribusiness companies to establish AgriZero, which is solely focused on helping farmers reduce emissions while maintaining profitability and productivity. AgriZero is starting to play a key role in bringing novel tech and mitigations through to market - nationally and internationally. It's not a think tank - rather it's an action station, getting the work done and out there for use on farm. New Zealand has got a great reputation for developing primary science but we've often struggled with scalability and making our research commercially viable. AgriZero provides this and Co-op farmers have priority access to the mitigations deployed as a shareholder in the company.
Nestlé Net Zero Farm
The Nestlé Net Zero Farm in Taranaki is trialling many of our novel tech mitigations. Run with our co-partner Dairy Trust Taranaki, the demonstration farm is a 290ha property surrounding our Whareroa site. The site allows us to go beyond the lab and look at the real-world implications of our mitigation tools. Does it make a reduction? Is it safe? How does it fit into the farm system and is it economically viable? Is it good for the milk, good for the cow and good for the farmer? It's real farmers using real products to make real reductions.