The Methane Emissions Reduction in Livestock (MERiL) program aims to reduce Australia’s livestock emissions by supporting the development and commercial readiness of technology solutions to deliver low emission feed supplements to grazing animals (beef and dairy cattle, and sheep).

The purpose of this grant opportunity is to validate and demonstrate technology solutions for delivering low emissions feed supplements to grazing animals. Successful applicants will demonstrate how their proposed technology solution is safe and effective at reducing enteric emissions in an operational environment, and the extent to which its use with feed supplements increases productivity.

Deadline, Grant Amount and Project Period

Applications close on 23 May 2022 05:00 PM AEST.

The Australian Government has announced a total of $20 million over 5 years for Stages 2 and 3 of the program. For Stage 3: Validation and Demonstration Grants, $15 million is available over 2 application rounds. Up to $6 million is available for Stage 3 Round 1 grants.

Minimum project length is 18 months, whilst the maximum project length is 2 years and 9 months, and the project completion should be by March 2025.

Grants Available

The grant amount will be up to 67% of eligible project expenditure (grant percentage).

• The minimum grant amount is $1 million (minimum eligible project expenditure is $1,492,538).
• The maximum grant amount is $3 million

Overview

The objectives of the grant opportunity are to:

• fast-track the development and commercial readiness of technology solutions to deliver low emission feed supplements to grazing animals at large-scale
• validate and demonstrate the productivity (including labour productivity) impacts, effectiveness and safety of technology solutions under Australian operational environments
• engage and collaborate with livestock producers to ensure technology solutions can be implemented in a cost-effective (and ideally productivity-enhancing) way within common grazing management operations
• everage co-investment to develop, validate and demonstrate the technology solutions

The intended outcomes of the grant opportunity are:

• cost-effective (and ideally productivity-enhancing) technology solutions ready for commercialisation
• improved estimation of the productivity (including labour productivity) impacts from grazing animals receiving low emissions supplements in typical Australian production systems
• improved estimation of the emissions from grazing animals receiving low emission supplements
• increased market interest in and acceptance of low emission supplements for delivery to grazing animals

Eligibility and Criteria

To be eligible, a business must:

• have an ABN
• be an entity, incorporated in Australia
• be a co-operative
• be an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
• be a publicly funded research organisation
• be an Australian State/Territory Government agency or body)

Joint applications are acceptable and encouraged. To submit a joint application you must have a, lead organisation who is the main driver of the project and is eligible to apply. For further information on joint applications, refer to section 7.2 of the Grant Opportunity Guidelines.

Eligible projects for Stage 3 must:

• involve large-scale trials using your technology solution to deliver low emission feed supplements to grazing animals under an Australian operational environment to:
• validate and demonstrate the productivity impacts, effectiveness and safety of the technology solution
• collect data on the productivity and abatement impacts and provide the data to the department for informing updates to the Livestock Emissions Framework
• involve validation and demonstration activities conducted in Australia
• publish (or have submitted for publishing) outcomes of validation and demonstration activities in a peer-reviewed publication
• involve engagement and collaboration with livestock producers to ensure technology solutions can be implemented in a cost-effective way within common grazing management operations
• develop a commercialisation plan for how the technology solution would be scaled up and brought to market
• have at least $1,492,538 in eligible expenditure

Eligible activities may include:

• trials to validate and demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of the technology solution under relevant environments, including collecting data on productivity (including labour productivity impacts) and abatement impacts
• working with livestock producers to plan, design, construct and conduct trials in an Australian operational environment
• preparing, publishing, presenting or otherwise disseminating project data and outcomes to inform stakeholders of the outcomes of project trials

Eligible expenditure must be a direct cost of the project and be incurred by you for required project audit activities. Eligible expenditure items are:

• labour for personnel directly employed for the project activities and on-costs to 30% of the total eligible labour costs
• staff training that directly supports the achievement of project outcomes
• contract expenditure, i.e. the cost of any agreed project activities that you contract to others
• purchase or hire of equipment directly related to delivering your project, including enteric emissions measurement equipment, computing equipment and software
• project input expenses, including animals, feed and supplements
• construction costs for creating trial sites, including purchasing materials, fencing, planning, construction and maintenance
• domestic travel limited to 10% of the total eligible project expenditure, for the cost of accommodation and transportation required to conduct agreed project and collaboration activities in Australia
• the cost of an independent audit of project expenditure up to a maximum of 1% of total eligible project expenditure

Not all expenditure on your project may be eligible for grant funding. The Program Delegate (who is an AusIndustry manager within the department with responsibility for the program) makes the final decision on what is eligible expenditure and may give additional guidance on eligible expenditure if required. To be eligible, expenditure must:

• be a direct cost of the project or
• be incurred by you for required project audit activities

You must incur the project expenditure between the project start and end date for it to be eligible unless stated otherwise.

Other project activities and expenditures may be accepted subject to governing rules and assessment. Applicants are encouraged to read through all the criteria set by this grant. Sample application form and grant agreement are also available. Only complete and compliant applications submitted through the online portal will be processed.

Expert Assistance

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