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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Slippery salvation: Could seaweed as cow feed help climate?

In this March 2016 photo provided by The Island Institute, Bigelow Laboratory research associate Brittney Honisch measures a piece of sugar kelp before harvest in Casco Bay, Maine. (Scott Sell / Associated Press)
By Patrick Whittle Associated Press

FREEPORT, Maine – Coastal Maine has a lot of seaweed, and a fair number of cows. A group of scientists and farmers think that pairing the two could help unlock a way to cope with a warming world.

The researchers – from a marine science lab, an agriculture center and universities in northern New England – are working on a plan to feed seaweed to cows to gauge whether that can help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

About a quarter of the methane in the country comes from cattle, which produce the gas when they belch or flatulate.

The concept of feeding seaweed to cows has gained traction in recent years because of some studies that have shown its potential to cut back on methane. The reduction might be because the seaweed interrupts the process of production of the gas in the animals’ guts.

One of the big questions is which kinds of seaweed offer the highest benefit to farmers looking to cut methane, and the researchers hope to find out, said Nichole Price, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine, and the project’s leader.

“What on that list has the ability to do two things – not just reduce methane emissions, but have some health benefits for the cow that have a cost savings or cost efficiency for the farmer?” Price said.

The researchers plan to conduct feeding trials with cows in Maine and New Hampshire in 2020 and 2021 to see whether seaweeds that can be used as cattle feed can cut the methane. They also intend to screen seaweeds for compounds that make them useful as cattle feed additives.

The research team has received a $3 million grant from the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund toward the work.

Studies involving some seaweeds have yielded results in cutting methane. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, found last year that methane emissions were reduced by 24% to 58% in a dozen cows that ate one variety of the Asparagopsis genus of seaweed.

One potential problem could lie in producing enough seaweed to feed to cows. But Dorn Cox, research director of Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment in Freeport, Maine, said the growth of seaweed as cattle feed could potentially benefit dairy farmers, as well as aquaculturists. Wolfe’s Neck will host some of the feeding trials.

Maine has a growing seaweed farming industry, and evidence that seaweed is good for cows’ health would aid that growth, Cox said.

“That’s why the research is so important,” Cox said. “We have to make sure it’s going to work and it’s something we can grow regeneratively as part of the Maine coastal ecosystem.”