Agriculture has carried a significant part of the load in Australia’s emissions reduction to 2021.

Powering Australia will benefit agriculture by investing in the development and commercialisation of new technologies, improving carbon farming and offsetting opportunities, and bringing down electricity prices across the board.

The greenhouse gas methane comes from the gas of livestock through the digestion process.

The asparagopsis seaweed contains a chemical that disrupts methane production in the stomach of livestock and can reduce emissions by more than 90% when incorporated into grain-fed cattle’s diet.

There are promising results in trials using seaweed to reduce methane emissions from cattle but it is not at commercial scale, nor can it be used across all farming applications.

Labor will provide the Australian Sustainable Seaweed Alliance (ASSA) with funding of $8 million over two years to progress this research and drive the innovation to further develop the technology.

The development of new livestock feed will also be eligible for funding under the $3 billion allocated to Powering Australia from the National Reconstruction Fund.

The larger $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund has also identified value adding in agriculture as a key priority.