Agriculture biotech company BioLumic has received a $5 million investment from AgriZeroNZ to develop a high-producing, low-emissions farm pasture using ultraviolet light.
Founded in New Zealand, BioLumic is known for its UV light treatments that are applied to plants as seeds to regulate their genetic expression and unlock their natural genetic potential.
The treatments have been found to significantly improve plant performance across 12 crops including corn, soybeans and rice – driving double-digit yield gains, improved quality and enhanced immunity to pathogens.
Animals with high-fat diets – such as grain-fed cattle in more intensive barn farming operations overseas – have lower methane emissions. Studies have found that a 1% increase in lipids (fat) content of feed will reduce methane emissions by ~5%.
The funding will enable BioLumic to apply its technology to ryegrass with a goal to increase fat content and subsequently reduce methane emissions from animals that consume it.
BioLumic is targeting a 2-3% increase in the lipids content of ryegrass to drive methane reduction by over 12%.
Based in Palmerston North and with offices in the United States, BioLumic was founded in 2013 by Dr Jason Wargent, the company’s chief science officer and a professor in Plant Biology at Massey University.
Wargent said the same UV process will be used on ryegrass – it will be treated with the UV light during its seed stage prior to bagging for use. There are also plans for testing the plants out in the paddock.
“We’re going to go into farm trials and one of the KPIs will be persistence in a perennial ryegrass.”
Funding from AgriZeroNZ was part of BioLumic’s capital raise to enable application of its suite of products to address major sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
“We’ve developed light recipes from billions of potential options that, with a precise application, can significantly increase plant performance across a range of crop varieties and growing conditions,” Wargent said.
“We’re confident we can achieve similar results in ryegrass with a focus on reduced methane, and we’re really pleased to be working with AgriZeroNZ to develop this important solution for New Zealand to put farmers at the forefront of low emissions pasture farming.”
AgriZeroNZ chief executive Wayne McNee said it could deliver a simple solution to reduce emissions on NZ’s pasture-based farms.
This in turn would help meet global customer demands for emissions reduction, protect trade agreements, and achieve New Zealand’s climate goals.
“Pasture is the foundation of the business for Kiwi farmers, so a pasture solution to curb methane and boost productivity will be an important option in their toolkit to reduce emissions.”
The announcement comes after the a2 Milk Company, ANZ Bank New Zealand and ASB Bank joined AgriZeroNZ as shareholders in early April.
In announcing the new shareholders at an event at Parliament, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said the government would match the new private sector contributions dollar for dollar, bolstering the AgriZeroNZ fund by $18 million.
