Jamie Mackay: The Country host on the Government's new joint project designed to cut down emissions

The Government's putting more than a million dollars into rolling out farming tech designed to cut down emissions.

A $1.2 million dollar investment's been announced through AgriZero.

It's developing a device for cows that spreads their urine across a farm as fertiliser- reducing the need for artificial application.

The Country's Jamie Mackay explained the project further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Rural Report on Hither Duper see Alan Drive.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Alternative explanation is the tickets were too expensive. Jamie mckaye,
host of the Countries with us Alo Jamie good A Heather, Right,
So the government's putting money into what to do what
with agricultural emissions?

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Well, it's the proverbial will the shite hit the fan?
Here because Nicola Willis I chatted to it today in
a North Canterbury dairy paddock or dairy farm paddock. And
they've got this thing called Agri Zero n Z. It's
a joint venture between the government and leading agri businesses,
you know, Fonterra, silver, fern farms, all these sorts of people.

(00:38):
They're jointly funding it with the government and it's ways
to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Now, there's all sorts
of good ideas out there that like some methane vaccine, vaccines, inhibitors,
probiotics and even pasture species that when consumed by the
animals will make them amit less methane. But here's a

(00:59):
really good one, and this one they've been pondering on
for ages. Now, this is a wearable device. Heather sometimes
cows wear collars like they do for Halter, and they
can have virtual fencing. This is a wearable device at
the other end of the cow, at the back end
of the cow. Yeah. Yeah, So the idea is that

(01:21):
this wearable device, which they're sort of under avail of
secrecy because they're still going through the IP and patent process.
So what it does, because cows are a big problem.
They drink a lot of water, they create a lot
of milk. They also pee a lot of urine, very
high concentrations. Basically they stand still and plunk it in
one place. Not good. Now, these people have quite rightly thought,

(01:44):
if we can somehow tweak mother nature and get that
high nitrogen urine spread around the pasture or the paddock evenly,
problem solved. So how do you do that? You put
a wearable device on the back of the cow. Well
that when she peas, somehow it spreads the urine like

(02:06):
we fertilize a spreader. But if you think about it, Caather,
and I'm sure you lay awake at night thinking about this,
and you think of the geometry or the geography of
a cow. Just above where the pea comes out, something
else comes out, and that's where I think I'm just
not quite sure how this is going to work. I
think the shit could really hit the fan. But it's

(02:28):
a unique idea and if it works, it could be
a real game breaker, So good luck to them. This
is a startup Canterbury Country. North Canterbury farmer called Moa.
Nicola was down there along with Shane Retty, the Minister
of Science, Innovation and Technology. They're very well. Nichola was
very excited about it. So watch this space.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
That was interesting, Jamie, thanks very much down there.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
I may have been clumsy in my explanation you got
I got there in the end, but you just need
to go home and look at a picture of a
cow to I would I figure out how this could
go badly wrong.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
What was more interesting was how awkward you were as
a farmer talking about cowpo But anyway, listen beef and
lamb right. It's the latest of a whole bunch of
global organizations now that want a new approach re methane.
Are they going to be able to put enough pressure
on the government to come around to this, Well.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
They've you know how we had just Cindus christ Church call.
This is sort of Kate Ackland's split Gas call to
other countries Beef and Lamb New Zealand, and it started
with the conversation that Kate Ackland had a number of
years ago, apparently in the UK with the Irish or
someone like that. So what they've got is they've got

(03:43):
thirty organizations again across fourteen countries, and they're going to
petition the UN and petition their own governments to take
a split gas approach to measuring greenhouse gas submissions i e.
Carbon dioxide on one side and methane on the other
and treat them differently and measure them differently. They've got,

(04:04):
as I said, fourteen countries have signed up. When I
look through the signatories of the joint statement, it was
interesting that the United States was in there, and with
everything Trump's saying at the moment, it's rather interesting that
they're signing up for this one. But I guess they
want to protect their farmers as well. And just before
you cut me off, either because I know you're going

(04:25):
to keep an eye out for the Global Dairy Trade
auction tonight. We haven't had a positive auction for three months,
not since August. The fifth futures market picking two to
three percent drop. Here's my question for you, other than
look at the geometry of the cow or the geography
of the cow, there's nine dollars fifty on the cards.

(04:47):
Do you think about that.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Ether Jamie, thank you. I appreciate it. Jamie McKay, host
of the Country. I didn't want to say it the
entire time, but it's the biology of the cow, isn't it.
When you're talking about where things are, it's what's the
geography of the cow.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
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Speaker 2 (05:05):
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