The Global Methane Hub launches international project to develop satellite-guided grazing to cut livestock emissions

The Time2Graze project involves 35 organizations to develop systems that monitor pasture levels to optimize livestock grazing and reduce methane emissions.

SANTIAGO, CHILE, September 10, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A new global initiative will develop satellite-based systems that help farmers optimize livestock grazing to improve nutrition, increase productivity and reduce emissions, the Global Methane Hub announced.

The Time2Graze project, funded by the Global Methane Hub, will bring together 35 partners working across Latin America and Africa to equip farmers with tools that identify optimal pasture levels.

An estimated two-thirds of agricultural land is used for grazing livestock around the world, but the digestibility of grazed forage varies significantly by the season and is increasingly threatened by climate change. Pasture availability and digestibility impacts both milk and meat output, as well as methane emissions, which are produced during digestion.

By tracking pasture levels across areas of 10-meter-by-10-meters every five days, the Time2Graze project would provide near-real-time satellite-based estimates of grassland biomass so that farmers can more effectively graze their cattle. Improvements in feed digestibility of just 10 percent have been found to result in 20 percent reductions in methane emissions.

“Grazing livestock systems are common worldwide but they are both highly variable and seasonally constrained,” said Dr. Santiago Rafael Fariña, senior agriculture program officer at the Global Methane Hub.

“The Time2Graze project aims to empower farmers with real-time information about the standing biomass of pasture to sustainably increase milk and meat production while also bringing down methane emissions.”

The project will involve the development of a remote sensing data system for tropical and temperate Latin America and Africa, led by the World Resources Institute (WRI). Three regional decision support tools for farmers will then be developed by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Uruguay’s National Agriculture Research Institute (INIA) and WWF.

The project will feature 35 additional partners, including Global Pasture Watch, OpenGeoHub, several universities and research institutes, as well as associations of livestock farmers in the targeted countries. It will engage with farmers and extension workers to refine and implement seven country-specific decision support tools with 115 on-farm trial sites.

In both tropical areas and subtropical and temperate zones, forage harvest levels range between 40 per cent and 60 per cent of their potential. At the same time, an estimated 98 per cent of methane from livestock digestion comes from grazing or mixed systems, with 78 per cent coming from countries in the Global South.

“The Time2Graze project is an exciting initiative that stands to offer livestock farmers a win-win opportunity by improving animal nutrition and productivity while also meeting global climate goals,” said Hayden Montgomery, director of the Global Methane Hub’s agriculture program.

“Enabling the livestock sector to reduce methane emissions is critical for safeguarding a vital sector for food security and livelihoods for more than a billion people.”

Donna Bowater
Marchmont Communications
donna@marchmontcomms.com

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