Environmental impact of pig farming:
Yet another example that we can only improve what we measure!
Pig farming in the context of global food demands
Meeting the growing global demand for food is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges we will face in the coming decades. The productive sector (including agriculture and livestock) will need to feed an increasingly larger population without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
In other words, the development of sustainable agri-food systems is a mandatory requirement. Pig farming already demonstrates high levels of performance and plays a crucial social role in ensuring food security for the planet.
However, there is still room for improvement when it comes to environmental sustainability. In this regard the old saying “we can only improve what we measure”, becomes truly relevant.
How to assess environmental impact?
The environmental impacts of pig farming have generally been analyzed in isolation (e.g., focusing on the animal) or limited to direct associations (e.g., emissions in the animal’s environment).[register]
These indicators are useful when the chain’s pollutant emissions have a local environmental effect and are often used to assess the emission of substances such as:
Nitrates
Ammonia
Phosphates
However, pig farming is a complex chain, and therefore, environmental impacts can be better understood through multidisciplinary approaches that consider its entire production cycle.
Global assessment techniques generate more representative environmental indicators as they consider not only the direct impacts of the activity but also the emissions associated with the raw materials used throughout the production chain.
Every product has some level of environmental impact, whether it is associated with its production process, the raw materials it consumes, or its use and final disposal.
In the case of pig farming, a finished animal ready for slaughter is obtained after a long chain of events and phases (piglet production, cultivation, harvesting, and transportation of grains, etc.). At each stage of this production chain, energy is consumed, and pollutants are generated.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely recognized tool in the context of global environmental impact analyses. The technique allows the evaluation a specific system (service or product) by systematically analyzing the flows and environmental impacts associated with its entire...
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