Exciting times are ahead for DSM. The company developed a powder that can be mixed with animal feed and that ensures that cows emit much less of the greenhouse gas methane. The powder works, as has been shown after much research. But can the methane inhibitor, baptized Bovaer, also enter the market? Will it be widely used? And who pays for that?
These are questions to which Dennis Rijnders, responsible for Bovaer at DSM, does not yet have a definitive answer. Bovaer is now being tested by large dairy groups such as FrieslandCampina, Arla and Danone. FrieslandCampina does this on 160 farms with a total of twenty thousand cows.
Bovaer is a cost item for dairy companies
It has been proven that 1 to 1.5 grams of Bovaer per day reduces methane emissions from cows. Cows exhale a lot of methane and are responsible for a large part of global methane emissions. The product ensures a reduction of at least 30 percent in the case of dairy cows, up to 45 percent in beef cows.
It is also known what Bovaer costs: 1 cent on a liter of milk, says Rijnders. In the supermarket, a liter of whole milk costs between 1.30 and 1.50 euros. Dairy farmers currently receive 60 cents per litre. Then, you would say, adding Bovaer to cattle feed shouldn’t be a problem. There are measures that benefit the environment that are much more expensive.
Rijnders agrees: “But dairy companies also see Bovaer as a cost item. They don’t automatically say ‘yes’ to extra costs. They want to know what happens to their sales if they themselves sell products from Bovaer cows and the competition does not. The dairy companies have not yet decided that.”
Worldwide interest
Nevertheless, he thinks Bovaer will be a success. The white powder is now made in Germany, but recently the first piles were driven into the ground for a large factory in Scotland. It should be ready in 2025. There are also plans for a factory in the US. It is being built by an American company that has bought DSM’s sales rights in the US.
Rijnders: “If those two factories are running, we can supply about 10 percent of all accessible cows from Bovaer.” With ‘accessible’ Rijnders refers to, for example, Dutch and American animals, not to the millions of cows that roam around in India. According to Rijnders, there is interest in the product from Latin America to Australia.
Methane is a greenhouse gas with a much greater greenhouse effect than CO2. Many countries have pledged to limit their methane emissions. Methane does have the ‘advantage’ that it breaks down much faster than CO2. Methane that goes into the air now will have disappeared from the atmosphere in ten years. “That means,” says Rijnders, “that tackling methane has an effect much earlier than tackling CO2.”
Sixty scientific publications
The idea for Bovaer arose in 2008 in the head of Maik Kindermann, innovation director of DSM’s animal feed division, says Rijnders. In two years the product was more or less ready. This was followed by series and series of tests. Does the product work? What is the best composition? Does a cow’s diet influence its functioning? Is it safe for cows? How much methane leaves the cow?
Those tests therefore required much more time than the development of the product. According to Rijnders, more than sixty scientific publications have been devoted to Bovaer and about 65 tests have been carried out on farms with the drug. “I think Bovaer is DSM’s most studied and researched product.” Bovaer does not work against nitrogen, another source of pollution from agriculture.
Tens of millions of euros invested
The development of Bovaer, including all tests, has cost DSM ‘tens of millions of euros’. That also says something about the confidence that the company, which specializes in food ingredients for humans and animals, has in the product. Multinationals generally no longer invest in products that only yield money in the long term. They prefer to invest money in things that generate quick cash. Bovaer is an exception to that rule.
And what if the dairy manufacturers do not dare to use DSM’s white powder? Even then, Rijnders thinks that Bovaer will find his way to the cow. For example, if the feed manufacturers, dairies, supermarkets and perhaps also farmers each bear part of the costs.
Or if farmers who buy feed with Bovaer are rewarded for doing so. In Flanders, Bovaer is subsidized by the government.
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