Sea Forest is ready to bring novel emissions-busting livestock feed to the world at its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at its Triabunna thanks to a collaborative project aided by $675,000 in co-investment from the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC).
The livestock feed is made using seaweed species asparagopsis armata, which has been known to have giant methane-busting potential when added in tiny quantities as a supplement for ruminant animals.
AMGC managing director Dr Jens Goennemann said utilising asparagopsis seaweed in this way was ‘a great Australian idea’ turned into a successful commercial business via manufacturing.
“Through the commercialisation process, Sea Forest has developed a local product with global potential, while generating jobs and supporting global moves to reduce emissions,” said Goennemann.
The $3.2 million project took just over 18 months to complete and has created nine full-time roles and upskilled a further eight staff at Sea Forest, which has been growing seaweed at Triabunna, Tasmania since 2019.
Over the coming years, the project has the potential to create over 50 new jobs in Triabunna where the company focuses its manufacturing and market development.
As a result of the project, Sea Forest has systems and practises in place for industrial-scale processing and packaging of asparagopsis extract, which is delivered to beef, milk, and wool producers in an oil-based solution.
Specifically, the extract’s compounds change the enzymatic behaviour in the final chamber of animals’ stomachs. Thereby, reducing methane emissions with just 0.2 per cent of Sea Forest’s product needed in ruminate feed to reduce emissions by up to 98 per cent.
Methane is a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and a significant contributor to the 15 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions that come from the agricultural sector.
Overall, Asparagopsis provides a triple benefit. It cuts digestion-related emissions from animals, grows and sequests carbon more rapidly than a land plants, and increases the rate at which livestock grow.
Sea Forest CEO Sam Elsom said AMGC had assisted Sea Forest in reaching its commercial outcomes as the funding allowed it to fast track the completion of its commercial-scale processing plant, enabling Sea Forest to meet its supply targets.
“The process of detailing each project milestone, together with its associated budget and regular reporting has also been very helpful and ensured that project costs were largely contained, limiting the risk of budget overruns and timing delays,” said Elsom.
Sea Forest is one of a handful of companies using asparagopsis-related IP licenced from FutureFeed, a commercialisation company based on IP developed by CSIRO, James Cook University, and Meat and Livestock Australia.
Sea Forest aims to hit its current capacity within five years, representing 7000 tonnes per annum of asparagopsis – enough to mitigate the equivalent of 1.2 million tonnes of CO2, equivalent to removing 300,000 cars from the world’s roads.
The company has also been carrying out trials with Fonterra and AACo.
