All this concern over flatulent livestock and global warming is deeply frustrating, says Gerard Keenan, chairman of animal nutritionist Keenan. The solution is already here. It's been a bad couple of weeks for cattle. They have received extremely bad press, after a landmark study by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation revealed that they emit significant amounts of environmentally polluting gases. You may be surprised to hear that these cows are responsible for more pollution that causes global warming than cars. Wind from dairy cows - mostly belching rather than flatulence - produces the equivalent of 4,000g of carbon dioxide a day. That's more than is produced by a large four-wheel-drive vehicle. So, what is being done to tackle the problem? Well, there's plenty of research taking place, and everyone is saying that a solution needs to be found urgently. As chairman of Keenan, I find all the prevarication and navel gazing frustrating. While long-term scientific effort to reduce methane from cattle is commendable, there is already a solution to reducing methane production, and we are already achieving this on many UK dairy and beef farms. This is not 'too good to be true'. Keenan has introduced a high-fibre nutrition system for beef and dairy cattle that reduces methane emissions for the average British dairy cow by 20%, and the results can be seen within 30 days. Backed by independent, international scientists in farming and food, the system has major effects on feed nutrient utilisation, animal health and farmer margins, while reducing environmental waste. It poses an understandable challenge to much of the current global thinking on cattle feeding and nutrition, and the challenge might also be commercial. Currently, the global feed trade, which has a major grip on the buying decisions of many farmers, is often too focused on fixing animal nutrition problems after they've happened rather than avoiding them in the first place. At our recent Forum on Food Production at The Royal Society, a leading vet described the new system as being "good for those who want to make a serious effort to return to first principles" - preventing problems. We are confident this system is a big opportunity for the retailer and processor, and for Britain's hard-pressed farming families. Everyone knows the consumer is willing to pay over the odds for organic milk, so who is going to be the first retailer to put milk or beef with a greatly reduced carbon footprint on their shelves? Let's get cracking.

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