The Australian Government has released grant guidelines for the next funding round under Stage 3 Round 2 of the Methane Emissions Reduction in Livestock (MERiL) program.
$9 million in grant funding, with $ 1 to $ 3 million per project, is available to support the development of methane-reducing solutions for grazing livestock.
Around 95% of Australia’s beef cattle, dairy cows, and sheep graze large areas with limited contact with farmers.
Stage 3 of MERiL aims to address challenges in the uptake of methane-reducing solutions by supporting the development of cost-effective feed supplement delivery technologies.
Adertisement
The program includes three stages:
- The Stage 1 funding period (2020-21 to 2024-25) allocated $4 million to six research projects focusing on methane-reducing feed supplements and forage feeds.
- The Stage 2 funding program, from 2022-23 to 2023-24, allocated $5 million to 11 projects to assess the feasibility of various technologies for delivering feed supplements to grazing animals.
- The Stage 3 Round 1 funding round (2023-24 to 2025-26) allocated $6 million to three projects for the development of feed supplement delivery technologies.
- Stage 3 Round 2 (2024-25 to 2026-27) is the current grant opportunity.
The grant opportunity opens on 7 February 2024 and will conclude on 20 March 2024.
