New support for farmers to reduce emissions from farm manure

Germany’s federal agriculture ministry has launched a new support scheme for farmers to encourage investment in emission-reducing treatment of farm manure. Liquid manure, slurry, dung and dry chicken manure produced in animal husbandry and used as a fertiliser on agricultural land is fuelling the climate crisis as they emit greenhouse gases during storage and application, the ministry writes. As biogas technology with anaerobic digestion is the most established means of reducing methane emissions from manure storage, the ministry aims to increase the amount of farm manure used in biogas plants. Up to 200,000 euros are made available to companies and projects for measures such as gas-tight coverings of storage facilities, conversion of biogas plants and the construction of additional storage tanks.

Currently, around 30 percent of farm manure in Germany is used in biogas plants to generate power, thereby avoiding greenhouse gas-relevant emissions in the order of about 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.