The potential of pig production systems to reduce their environmental impact and contribute to the Net Zero Carbon target
Livestock industries, including pig production, are currently under scrutiny as to their environmental impact.
This scrutiny is expected to intensify parallel to rising concerns about climate change and the potential contribution of livestock to global warming.
Although the contribution per unit of meat from pig production systems to environmental impact is relatively low, pork is, at least for the time being, the most widely produced and consumed type of meat worldwide. As a result, it contributes significantly to various types of environmental impact.
In 2013, the total contribution of pig production to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was estimated to be 668 million tonnes of CO2-eq. Which represents 9% of the total GHG emissions produced by animal production.
In addition, pig production is considered to contribute greatly to the acidification and eutrophication of the environment due to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) emmisions resulting from the storage and use of slurry in crop fields.
In some European countries, concern about these emissions is as relevant to their environmental agenda as concern about GHG emissions, since, for example, pig and poultry ptroduction are responsible for 83% of NH3 emissions into the atmosphere in the EU.
Traditionally, improvements in pig husbandry and management have been aimed at increasing the systems’ effectiveness, especially in regards to the efficient use of resources such as feed.
⇀ Genetic improvement
For example, genetic selection has aimed to:
Increase growth rate
Improve carcass features, such as improving lean performance
Improve the reproductive performance of sows
⇀ Feed and nutritional improvement
Improvements in the use of feed have also contributed to this, for example by:
The use of exogenous enzymes and synthetic amino acids
Advances in feed manufacturing technology
Any improvment in resource use efficiency will also improve the enviormental impact of these systems.
This is because feed associated activities, including slurry management, are responsible for most GHG emissions in pig and other livestock systems. In the case of pigs, it represents more than 70% of the impact of these production systems.
Emissions associated with feed production are particularly high if the Agricultural Land Use Change (ALU) is taken into account. Involving deforestation linked to soybe...
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