Seaweed supplements can reduce methane in cattle by 82 per cent, new research claims

US scientists suggest the huge toll of the industrial meat industry on the global climate could be somewhat reduced, writes Harry Cockburn

A beef herd in Texas (Getty)

Meat is popular but it is very bad for the planet. Meat production uses around 82 per cent of the world’s farmland and produces 60 per cent of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the key sources of greenhouse gases from beef production is methane. Belching cattle contribute this powerful gas over the course of their entire lifetime, and methane is 86 to 105 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of disrupting the climate over a 20-year period.

As a result, the heat is on for people to reduce their meat consumption, and to make meat production less ecologically destructive.