Last September, the battle against climate change took an unexpected turn. It was no longer what you put in your car that made the difference, but what you put in your mouth.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) declared that the agriculture industry produces about 20 per cent of greenhouse gases, not only by raising levels of carbon dioxide through deforestation, but also in the millions of tonnes of methane and nitrous oxide emitted as by-products from livestock bred for the food industry.