When cows eat, their stomachs ferment plant material into a digestible form. The process produces methane, which cows burp out. Since methane is a potent greenhouse gas capable of trapping more heat in the earth's atmosphere than carbon dioxide, scientists and entrepreneurs are scrambling to find a solution.
A frontrunner is Swiss-British agritech firm Mootral, which developed a blend of garlic and citrus that doesn't impact milk yield or taste but can reduce a dairy cow's methane emissions by up to 38%. Along with bovine digestion tweaks by other innovators, including daffodil extract and breeding climate-friendlier cows, Mootral Ruminant could help slow down global warming.
To introduce its method to consumers, Mootral recently paired up with London ice cream shop Ruby Violet for Maxi-Mootral, 'a world's first climate-friendly ice cream.' On a summer day in August, 100 customers were treated to free scoops of Maxi-Mootral at Ruby Violet's King's Cross parlor. The flavor was made with milk from Brades Farm, whose cows are fed Mootral's pellets to cut their methane emissions and were part of the company's first commercial trial.
