A Scottish science and technology company and an Irish farm feed company are among the front runners in the race. But they could be upstaged by the English or Welsh winner of a £750,000 contract from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with this target in mind, due to be announced shortly.

The Defra project is aimed at finding better cow types or high-sugar grass varieties that lead to lower emissions of greenhouse gases - mostly methane. A Defra spokesman said these emissions from livestock accounted for about 7 per cent of the total greenhouse gas emissions for the UK and double that worldwide. Cars are reckoned to account for about 6 per cent.

The Defra strategy will also be homing in on the development of anaerobic digesters to deal with cattle slurry, and produce useable energy, a technology that has developed rapidly in Germany with the aid of substantial subsidies.

Source: The Scotsman