Fonterra has invested in a new effluent pond mobile dosing service to support farmers in reducing emissions and make progress towards its on-farm emissions reduction target.
The two-year pilot, which is set to begin in August, will involve up to 200 Fonterra farmers in Waikato and Southland to trial the scalability and effectiveness of the service.
Developed by Agnition, Ravensdown’s innovation and investment subsidiary, in collaboration with Lincoln University, EcoPond utilises polyferric sulphate and sulfuric acid to reduce and prevent methane emissions in effluent ponds. Studies have shown the treatment can reduce a farm’s effluent pond emissions by at least 90 percent.
While the previous EcoPond system required significant on-farm infrastructure for installation, the new dosing service uses a truck to dose the pond as needed, reducing deployment costs.
Fonterra’s Director of Sustainability, Charlotte Rutherford, said that novel technology, such as EcoPond, is one of several levers the Co-op is using to make progress towards its target of a 30 percent reduction in on-farm emissions intensity by 2030 (from a 2018 baseline).
“While there’s no silver bullet, we expect around a 7 percent reduction in our on-farm emissions to come from novel technologies. We’re starting small with this pilot in regions where the EcoPond trucks can currently operate to test effectiveness and scalability,” said Rutherford.
“We continue to explore new tools, services and technology to support farmers, and we’re working alongside Agnition to understand what would need to be considered before we could scale EcoPond to benefit more Co-op farmers.”
Agnition CEO Jasper Van Halder said the company is focused on finding, developing, and investing in high-potential opportunities to solve real-world challenges in the agricultural sector.
“EcoPond is highly effective at reducing on-farm methane emissions – and it’s available for farmers now. By partnering with Fonterra, we can deliver this simple and practical solution at scale, benefiting the industry and the role our sector can play in delivering a sustainable future,” said Halder.
Effluent ponds on average represent about five percent of a Fonterra farm’s total emissions, which include emissions associated with land use change and those released from peat soil, minus any carbon removals.
The treatment has shown promising results in a trial on the Net Zero Pilot Dairy farm, a project within the Co-op’s partnership with Nestlé. The use of a custom EcoPond system on the farm has reduced methane emissions from the treated effluent samples by approximately 97 percent.
Eligible farmers will be emailed a link to register their interest in the pilot in early May, and the 200 pilot farmers will be confirmed before the end of June.
The Co-op provides funding for the pilot, as well as recently announced customer incentives, which include on-farm solutions made available through separate agreements with Mars and Nestlé.
Further information about the full suite of on-farm solutions, designed to improve emissions efficiency further, will be shared in June.
