The American Midwest has made money out of farming hogs / swine the 19th Century, leading to the creation of the first modern futures markets. Now there's a new angle, trading the Greenhouse Gas Emissions that come from Pig Manure. And Agcert, a leading Bioenergy Company listed on London's Aim shows the way. Since going public in June, the stock price has risen from 140p to 230p today, valuing the company at around $500 million.

In an interview with yesterday's Sunday Telegraph, Al Tank, Agcert's CEO, described as "a compact farm boy from Iowa with an unnerving knowledge of pigs . . . and a crisp, clean, white collar", set forth his vision. Amongst several salient points, there was even a China Story - "Half the world's pigs are in China, which is a unique opportunity," says Tank.

What's particularly interesting here is that 20% of world GHG emissions are from Agriculture. Why?

Because methane - from farm animal manure - is a 20 times more powerful GHG than Carbon Dioxide. Moreover, captured methane can be burnt to provide heat and electricity, whereas CO2 can only be sequestrated at considerable cost.

So there you go. Now you know the true value of methane.