On May 8^th 2014, the start-up meeting for the COST Action METHAGENE was held at Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands. 44 participants from 20 countries joined this meeting. After a general introduction by the Chair of the Action (Yvette de Haas) and the Grand Holder of the Action (Boudewijn Kroes), the involvement of early stage researchers was addresses. There are 2 ways of involving them; either by Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) or by Training Schools. There is budget available for STSMs, and the first applicant already signed up for it. The first Training School will be held in Dummerstorf, Germany, and will target “Methane physiology for geneticists”. The aim of the Training School will be to teach early stage geneticists about the physiology of methane production; how it is produced, and how it can be affected. After the lunch, the aims of the Working Groups were introduced, and road maps for Working Group 1 and 2 were described. Working Group 1 focuses on methane–determining factors, and it was decided to split them in three sections: (1) animal-related factors; (2) feed/nutrition-related factors; and (3) microbes–related factors. For each section, a group of people was assigned to make the overview which will be presented to the network at the next meeting. Working Group 2 focuses on harmonisation and comparison of techniques to measure methane. For this Working Group we are looking for data where the same cows are measured with multiple techniques.

The meeting was productive in creating the road maps, and effective in networking and meeting new people. We are looking forward to fruitful collaborations.