The fantasy view of natural systems foisted on people by politicans and activists results in nonsense policies.

The Australian government has announced a multi-million dollar investment in research on reducing gas emissions from farm animals as part of the fight against global warming.

Methane gas from livestock flatulence accounts for about 12 percent of the country's annual greenhouse gas emissions, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said as he launched the 26.8 million dollar (17.4 million US dollar) project.

The emissions from 120 million sheep, cows and goats comprise the country's third-largest source of gases blamed for climate change, he said in a statement received Thursday.

A beef cow expells the equivalent of around 1,500 kilograms (3,300 pounds) of carbon per year, the statement said. Most carbon pollution is produced by the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal.

Researchers will explore changing diets and chemical and biological controls of stomach bacteria to reduce methane production, as well as genetic approaches such as selective breeding.

"We will invest in science to ensure that productivity grows while the industry adapts to lower emissions, particularly as the world food shortage continues," Burke said.

The species cited - sheep, cows and goats - are ruminants. Among livestock they are uniquely able to digest cellulose and so make far better use of plant material. They thrive on diets of coarse materials that would not support non-ruminant species. They accomplish these admirable feats by having complex digestive systems with multiple stomach chambers that harbor anaerobic bacteria who are the true heroes of this tale since it is they who digest the cellulose. Ruminants give the bacteria an assist by cud chewing - regurgitating partially digested plant matter for a second chew which further grinds the material, exposing more surfaces to the bacteria when swallowed once again.

The bacteria produce methane, like all anaerobic bacteria, which is released as belches, not farts. This happens no matter whether the bacteria live in ruminant rumens, compost piles, wetlands, or soil. The plant matter eaten by ruminants would produce just as much methane rotting in a field as it does rotting in a rumen.

Changing ruminant diets won't help. If they don't eat the cellulose then bacteria will digest it elsewhere, as they always have done. It's a silly idea to blame natural processes that existed before humans or ruminants existed, much less learned to control fire or mine the earth for fossil carbon, for emissions increases.

However, it may be possible to engineer franken-bacteria and inoculate ruminants with them. If so, then these engineered bacteria will help even more in wetlands, rice paddies, land fills and other notorious point sources of methane production.

Though the emissions issue is nonsensical it is also argued that such engineered bacteria would enable ruminants to capture more energy from their food, and so grow better on less forage. Their already admirable digestive systems would be improved. This remains to be seen, and is not without risks from unintended consequences.