Climate-neutral meat farms “can be a reality in the next 10 years,” the CEO of one of the world’s biggest animal medicine manufacturers said in an interview. Speaking at Semafor World Economy, Elanco Animal Health’s Jeff Simmons argued that agricultural firms were making significant progress in vaccinating animals to reduce their methane emissions, capturing the emissions that do occur, measuring how much they have retained, and selling them to major retailers such as Nestlé for up to $20 per cow. The purchasing company tracks those payments as part of a program of “insets” to reduce emissions within its supply chain, as opposed to the purchase of “offsets” from external projects.
Beyond seeking to reduce emissions, the push is part of efforts to court younger consumers who, Simmons noted, were put off by the environmental impact of eating meat as well as concerns surrounding animal welfare. “I could take you to a farm in Kansas right now with 10,000 dairy cows that will be climate neutral by the end of the decade,” he said.