Farmers for Action (FFA) spokesperson William Taylor, has indicated that food security should be the priority for production agriculture not using IVF to produce low methane-emitting cows.
He was responding to the news that Scottish veterinary surgeons have used a combination of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) techniques and genomics to produce a dairy calf with an inherent ability to produce reduced enteric methane levels.
Prof. Richard Dewhurst, who is head of the Dairy Research Centre at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), believes the birth of the calf named ‘Hilda’ could play a key role in helping the dairy sector cut carbon emissions.
Prof. Dewhurst, who previously led research units in Wales, New Zealand, and Ireland, is the SRUC lead on the Cool Cows project which is focused on “accelerated breeding for low methane emissions and high feed efficiency”.
“In my opinion, this is a backward step for agriculture,” William Taylor told Agriland.
“It serves only to put more focus on farmers within the climate change debate while, at the same time, taking pressure off the international oil companies and the food retail corporates,” he said.
The FFA representative also fears a backlash from consumers if scientific research continues to have such a strong methane mitigation focus.
“It’s not unknown for scientists to end up in a cul-de-sac, when it comes to the research programmes they follow; Dolly the sheep was a case in point.
“I am also concerned about the use of feed additives as a means of reducing enteric methane emission levels from ruminant livestock.
“Again, the risk of incurring a consumer backlash is very real. And it’s farmers who will bear the full brunt of this, should it happen,” he said.
Food security
Food security is the “overarching priority now confronting agriculture throughout Britain, Ireland the rest of the world,” Taylor continued.
Significantly, Taylor believes that the international farming industry can play a key role in solving the world’s food security and climate change challenges.
“The world produces approximately 177 million tonnes of sugar annually, which can be used as a source of bio-ethanol,” he added.
“My understanding is that alcohol can be used a major constituent of aviation fuel.
“So, getting the world’s airlines to commit to bio-ethanol as a fuel source could very quickly reduce greenhouse gas production levels, thereby making the attainment of the world’s current climate change mitigation measures a more straightforward process.
“Farmers have always been both food and energy suppliers, and this will continue to be the case,” he explained.
