Richard L. Bowman, the founder and President of RuMeth International, began his work in the ruminant methane field in 1991 as the Director of the Global Livestock Producer’s Program of EnterpriseWorks Worldwide (formerly Appropriate Technology International). Mr. Bowman served as the team leader for a series of USEPA sponsored pre-feasibility studies in India, Tanzania, Brazil and Bangladesh. These studies investigated the potential for developing projects aimed at decreasing ruminant methane emissions in various geographical regions of the world. Mr. Bowman was responsible for analyzing the deficiencies in various production systems and the potential for methane mitigation through targeted interventions. During the course of these studies, Mr. Bowman developed the methodology for the field assessment of production systems and how to best reorient those systems to maximize producer profits and minimize methane emissions.
Building on the work of the USEPA studies, Mr. Bowman was the chief architect of the world’s first ruminant methane mitigation project funded for the purpose of carbon offset crediting. This effort successfully established the viability of the methodology for the assessment of ruminant methane emissions from a given production system and served as a venue to adapt and refine the manufacturing process for producing a low-cost, methane reducing feed supplement for livestock. Mr. Bowman also served in a consulting capacity to the USEPA in the preparation of documents related to the establishment of guidelines for monitoring and measuring ruminant methane emissions. Additionally, he has worked with the USEPA as expert counsel related to the design, development and implementation of ruminant methane mitigation projects and the training of animal production specialists in the field of ruminant methane mitigation assessment.
Mr. Bowman founded RuMeth in 2007 to continue this work. Since then RuMeth has formalized the methodology and protocol for evaluating the efficiency of ruminant methane emissions in AMS-III.BK; approved by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Executive Board in 2014. The methodology incorporates the scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the National Research Council (NRC), as well as peer reviewed research from US and Canadian Agricultural Research Universities. AMS-III.BK is the only internationally approved methodology for the evaluation of Ruminant Methane.