Laser beams, special chambers, highly sensitive monitoring equipment.
It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but the work being conducted by a group of researchers in southern Alberta is aimed at finding a solution to a far earthier problem — cow flatulence.
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The scientists, who work out of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research Centre, are trying to find ways to reduce methane emissions from cattle. Methane is a natural byproduct of a cow’s digestive process, but it’s also a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. According to 2009 statistics from Environment Canada, the agriculture industry is responsible for about eight per cent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions — and nearly 40 per cent of those agricultural emissions are the result of methane produced by cattle.
The methane issue is one of the biggest challenges the beef industry faces as it works to improve its environmental performance, but Sean McGinn — one of the Lethbridge Research Centre scientists — is hopeful that he and his colleagues will be able to help. It’s already been proven that what a cow eats can affect the animal’s methane emissions. Now, McGinn and his colleagues are experimenting with different cattle diets — adding fats, adding oilseeds, improving forage quality — to see which is most effective.