The Bezos Earth Fund, established by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has awarded $4.85m in funding to a research project on methane emissions in cattle.

US-based Angus Genetics Inc (AGI) was approached by a group of beef industry researchers from Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and the UK to participate in the project studying the influence genetics has on methane emissions and its relationship to feed efficiency, performance and beef quality.

The research grant was submitted by the beef industry research group to the Global Methane Hub and funding was awarded by the Bezos Earth Fund.

Global initiative

The grant is part of a $27.4m global initiative, backed by Bezos, to reduce energy waste in livestock by targeting emissions and the natural variation that exists in herds.

These funds will be distributed to the University of New England in Australia, which is coordinating the project.

As part of the grant, AGI will receive a portion of the funding to collect 4,600 methane phenotypes from participating Angus breeders and research herds in the United States.

The Angus Foundation has received criticism from American farmers for being involved in the emissions research project.

The group said the research is purely about improving efficiency on farms.

A spokesperson for the foundation added the Bezos Earth Fund and Global Methane Hub will have no authority to change the direction or design of the research.

“There is a firewall between the research findings, our member’s data, and the Bezos Earth Fund/Global Methane Hub.”