Leading the mission to Zero Carbon Farming
Doing right by farmers
and our planet.
Methane Mitigation Ventures (MMV) is sister company to Lone Star Farms (LSF), which owns and operates 6 sheep and beef farms in the South Island of New Zealand, Together, MMV and LSF are committed to reducing the climatic impact of ruminant farming, while protecting New Zealand's most important industry.
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Ruminant farming is the backbone of our economy and part of our national identity. Meeting our environmental responsibilities and protecting our primary sector ought not be mutually exclusive goals.
Farmers are being asked to offer their land and livelihoods to test new technologies which might just help save the world. We believe that those who are willing to do this must be celebrated as well as rewarded. On 12 December 2022 we published an open letter outlining our view on the need to reduce methane while protecting our farms.
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Methane matters.
Methane has 84 times greater warming potential in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. However, it is also a short lived gas: methane dissipates into CO2 in the atmosphere after 12 years. This means that if animal numbers stay the same, ruminant farming causes little additional warming. However, reducing methane emissions will have a far greater impact on the earth's temperature in the short term than reducing our carbon dioxide emissions. Likewise, increasing methane emissions from today's levels would be catastrophic.
The New Zealand Government's proposed split gas approach is to be applauded. However, we must ensure that any levy system properly incentivises and enables behavioural change, and does not make ruminant farming so difficult that it becomes more economical to plant pine forests on farmland (with no benefit for around 5 years and a much slower and smaller impact tha), particularly while technologies that will shift the dial are close, but not yet available. Such an outcome will be devastating for our economy, rural communities and landscapes.
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Cutting agricultural emissions before 2030 gives us our best chance to limit warming to 1.5° by 2050 and buy precious time to develop technologies that tackle the longer term CO2 problem. Our policy settings must reflect both the challenge and the opportunity this presents.
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Leadership by
doing.
New Zealand has a laudable history of achieving feats never thought possible, through bravery, innovation and unflinching determination. We celebrate these qualities in our heroes, and we must continue their legacy in relation to climate change.
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We have an opportunity to lead the world in cleaner ruminant farming. Solving the methane issue in our own backyard will give us credible standing to speak up to nations whose emissions determine the future of humankind.
Our leadership will be rewarded through higher prices for our exports and new technologies to sell to the world.
Putting our money
where our mouth is.
Methane Mitigation Ventures was founded by Tom Sturgess, NZ-US businessman on a mission to accelerate climate action. He accepts that eliminating methane is the single biggest thing we can do to reduce warming now, and is investing heavily in technologies that can achieve that, plus methodologies and measurement tools to enable farmers to monetise the methane reductions they achieve.
With significant New Zealand livestock farming interests and a long history in the sector, Tom knows farming. He knows that to effect change, the economics have to stack up. He has built a stable of complementary businesses and a team of farmers, scientists and commercial experts, ready to help lead the way. This team is actively working on proving and commercialising technologies and systems changes that can shift the dial for New Zealand farming.
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Exploring new
frontiers with Rumenaut
Methane Mitigation Ventures (MMV) has recently committed funding to establish a new business, Rumenaut, which is developing a range of potentially game-changing technologies in the fight against methane, right here in New Zealand.
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Rumenaut has developed a cutting edge artificial rumen device which will enable product developers to test the impact of their technologies faster and at a much lower cost than existing testing facilities can provide. This will help accelerate development of methane mitigating products and processes, as well as other interventions to aid animal health. The first artificial rumens are expected to be available as a commercial service offering from Q3 2024.
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Key features of the artificial rumen are novel technologies to monitor enteric outputs in real time.
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Critically, our technologies are being developed with New Zealand farmers in mind, and are designed to address the limitations some existing solutions have when applied to a pastoral farming system.
Our partners.
Methane Mitigation Ventures has partnered with world leaders in methane mitigating technologies to bring products to New Zealand that will reduce emissions while improving animal health and productivity.
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These products are the result of extensive and ongoing research and development involving world-leading scientific institutions. With our trial partners, we are now conducting our own New Zealand trials on farm to confirm and build on overseas findings in the New Zealand context. These include animals feeding on a roughage based pastoral diet.
Mootral is a British-Swiss AgriTech company that develops innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as the usage of drugs like antibiotics in agriculture.
Mootral Ruminant is a natural feed supplement that significantly reduces methane emissions in ruminants. It is based on a proprietary combination of garlic and citrus extract and is produced in a pellet format.
Our
Team.
Founder
Tom is the founder of Methane Mitigation Ventures and owner of Lone Star Farms. Tom has a wide range of business interests in New Zealand and the United States, including a significant investment in Regeneration.VC, a venture capital fund focussed on regenerative technologies and circular economic business models that will reshape our world. Tom believes in the power of innovation and is investing heavily in technologies that will address climate change.
Tom
Sturgess
Dr Peter Fennessy, NZOM
Science
Advisor
Dr Fennessy has built a distinguished career bridging the gap between agricultural science and business, and has recently been awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services in these intersecting fields. Dr Fennessy is a specialist in commercialisation of agri-business ventures and bio-tech concepts, having been involved in many startups as well as founding leading agritech consultancy AbacusBio. Dr Fennessy is also an experienced director, mentor and advisor.
Adrian Barker
Director
Adrian is responsible for
setting and executing MMV"s commercialisation pathway. Experienced in commercialisation, Adrian brings expertise in IP protection, new product development, go-to market strategy, supply chain management and global logistics, gained from his work in a range of sectors including the value add end of agri, wool, forestry and horticulture. Adrian's mission in this role is to find the intersection between technology and market at pace.
Sarah Fitchett
Commercial Programme
Manager
Sarah works with Adrian to develop and drive MMV's path to market. A lawyer by training, Sarah has experience in business, financial services and economic development. Sarah is currently focussed on MMV's partnerships and adjacent investments, ensuring appropriate corporate structures and processes are in place. Sarah is also leading MMV's work to develop a voluntary methane unit which appropriately incentivises emissions reductions on farm.
Join the
mission.
Our planet does not have time for politics at any level. Methane Mitigation Ventures is putting its money where its mouth is in order to drive the development of practical on-farm solutions to greatly reduce our biggest agricultural polluter - methane. This is not only by accessing for farmers then proving up cutting edge, methane reducing technologies, but also by advocating for a regulatory framework and private sector incentives which accelerate technology development and adoption.
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If you are ready to join the mission to reduce methane emissions, without hobbling our primary sector, sign up here for updates on our advocacy work and product developments.