Over €3.6 million has been announced today (Thursday, December 15) for Irish researchers in four climate and agriculture research projects relating to livestock emissions, arising from the 2022 Ireland – New Zealand Joint Research Call. 

Total funding from both the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries will amount to over €7 million for the four successful projects.

The research seeks to address the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from pasture-based livestock systems to help meet the climate goals of both countries.

Speaking on the announcement of the awards, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue said: “I am delighted to be able to announce, in collaboration with the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, the awarding of over €7 million in combined funding for research projects to help tackle the critical issue of enteric emissions from livestock farming.

Minister of State with responsibility for research and innovation, Martin Heydon remarked: “Ireland and New Zealand are unique in being faced with a significant challenge to reduce and offset emissions from our pasture-based, livestock farming systems.

"Research and innovation will play a key role in addressing that challenge. The collaboration we will see in these four projects, will bring together some of the best expertise, know-how, equipment and experience in both our countries and by working together, I am confident we can speed up the pace of the research and deliver solutions that the sector needs.”

For his part, Minister For Primary Industries Damien O’Connor stated: "New Zealand and Ireland understand the complexities of farming systems and the need to enhance productivity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“New Zealand and Ireland are also founding members of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA). We have shared interests in pasture-based farming, we co-chair the GRA Livestock Research Group, and are committed to reducing agricultural emissions globally," he added.

The four projects are in key areas including rumen microbiology for reducing GHG emissions, monitoring and emission reduction technologies, animal breeding for reduced emissions, and inventory improvement.

Taken together, the DAFM said that they offer significant potential for the development of new insights and technologies to better account for, and mitigate, GHG emissions.

The newly established Ireland – New Zealand Joint Research Mechanism (JRM) is a pilot research initiative which is projected to run for an initial period of three years (2022-2024).

The JRM is specifically focused on the identification of research gaps and the development of new technologies leading to a reduction in enteric methane emissions  

The Joint Research Call invited research proposals were invited under the following three topic areas;

Total funding provided jointly by DAFM and MPI under the first call of the pilot research initiative is €7,079,587 with DAFM providing €3,624,075 for the Irish Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) involved, and MPI providing the balance for the research organisations in New Zealand

The successful projects and awards are as follows: