Mr. Bill Callanan:

The Senator has picked up on the nuance in the language around pasture-based methane, which is somewhat different. I will ask my colleague, Mr. Crammond, to go into more detail on that. Looking at the overall picture, the unique selling point of Irish agriculture is that it is a grass-fed and rain-based system and we always have to be careful that we do not suggest any move away from that. A lot of international systems are based around animals being permanently housed and that is not a model that we would support or envisage for here.

There are technical issues around the use of methane reduction feed additives. I have responsibility for research so I would draw attention to two projects that are ongoing for some time, including the GreenBreed project. We are seeing that there is quite a difference between individual animals in the amount of methane they produce due simply to their basic characteristics. As a scientist, when one sees that variability then it is possible to breed for that trait and good work is ongoing in that section. Second, there is Meth-Abate, the project being run by Teagasc, which is looking at multiple different varieties of feed additives, including olives, oils, seaweed and commercial products. In the long term there will be lots of claims about this and we need to make sure they are valid and authenticated. The research in Meth-Abate is looking at a number of different products but there are specific challenges around the use of a feed additive. I might ask Mr. Crammond to explain the additional information that is required about the effectiveness of feed additives in a pasture system.