Geographical determinants and environmental implications of livestock production intensification in Asia

Gerber, Pierre; Chilonda, Pius; Franceschini, Gianluca; Menzi, H.

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2004.05.016

Cited by 165 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The spatial patterns in our P balance results are also generally consistent with spatially explicit P balances for Asia and Europe by Gerber et al (11,39), for China by Shen et al (40), and for India by Pathak et al (41). Gerber et al (11) found similar large P surpluses driven by fertilizer use in eastern China and northern India, as well as P deficits or small P surpluses in Burma, parts of Malaysia, Indonesia, and northern China.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Gerber et al (11) found similar large P surpluses driven by fertilizer use in eastern China and northern India, as well as P deficits or small P surpluses in Burma, parts of Malaysia, Indonesia, and northern China. However, they found P deficits throughout southern India and in pockets of southern China and Vietnam, where we found mostly larger P surpluses, which is likely attributable to our use of a more simplified method to calculate manure P applications to ensure global consistency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Agronomic phosphorus imbalances across the world's croplands

MacDonald

Bennett

Potter

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

687

462

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Increased phosphorus (P) fertilizer use and livestock production has fundamentally altered the global P cycle. We calculated spatially explicit P balances for cropland soils at 0.5°resolution based on the principal agronomic P inputs and outputs associated with production of 123 crops globally for the year 2000. Although agronomic inputs of P fertilizer (14.2 Tg of P·y −1 ) and manure (9.6 Tg of P·y −1 ) collectively exceeded P removal by harvested crops (12.3 Tg of P·y −1 ) at the global scale, P deficits covered almost 30% of the global cropland area. There was massive variation in the magnitudes of these P imbalances across most regions, particularly Europe and South America. High P fertilizer application relative to crop P use resulted in a greater proportion of the intense P surpluses (>13 kg of P·ha −1 ·y −1 ) globally than manure P application. High P fertilizer application was also typically associated with areas of relatively low P-use efficiency. Although manure was an important driver of P surpluses in some locations with high livestock densities, P deficits were common in areas producing forage crops used as livestock feed. Resolving agronomic P imbalances may be possible with more efficient use of P fertilizers and more effective recycling of manure P. Such reforms are needed to increase global agricultural productivity while maintaining or improving freshwater quality.agriculture | eutrophication | nutrient balances | phosphorus depletion D isparities between the nutrients applied to agricultural soils via fertilizer or manure and the nutrients removed by harvested crops result in nutrient imbalances that can influence environmental quality and productivity of agricultural systems (1). Growing consumption of inorganic phosphorus (P) fertilizers derived from mining of nonrenewable phosphate rock (2) has contributed to major increases in crop yields since the 1950s (3). Concurrent growth in fertilizer use and livestock production has more than tripled global P flows to the biosphere over preindustrial levels (4), resulting in P accumulation in some agricultural soils that acts as a driver of eutrophication in freshwater and coastal systems (5-7). At the same time, limited availability of P fertilizers in other regions has contributed to prolonged P deficits that can deplete soil P and limit crop yields (8-10). Although agricultural P surpluses and deficits have been documented for several regions (e.g., refs. 11 and 12), there is still limited understanding of the spatial patterns of P imbalances at the global scale.Patterns of nutrient imbalances across agricultural systems may reflect contrasting agricultural practices, economic development, and broader agricultural policies (1, 13). Understanding agricultural P use is key to managing global phosphate rock reserves (14) and mitigating the risk for potentially irreversible eutrophication of lakes (15). Despite considerable advances in the development of spatially explicit global nitrogen balances (e.g., ref. 16), most previous global P balance studi...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Agronomic phosphorus imbalances across the world's croplands

MacDonald

Bennett

Potter

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

687

462

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“…To fulfil the demand for meat, milk and eggs, livestock production in developing countries is expanding, especially in peri-urban areas (Gerber et al, 2005), and worldwide becomes more specialised (Steinfeld et al, 2006). In consequence of these trends, increasing volumes of livestock manure are produced, which are a source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) contributing to radiative forcing (Forster et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manure management for greenhouse gas mitigation

Petersen

Blanchard

Chadwick

et al. 2013

Animal

122

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Ongoing intensification and specialisation of livestock production lead to increasing volumes of manure to be managed, which are a source of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O). Net emissions of CH 4 and N 2 O result from a multitude of microbial activities in the manure environment. Their relative importance depends not only on manure composition and local management practices with respect to treatment, storage and field application, but also on ambient climatic conditions. The diversity of livestock production systems, and their associated manure management, is discussed on the basis of four regional cases (Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, China and Europe) with increasing levels of intensification and priorities with respect to nutrient management and environmental regulation. GHG mitigation options for production systems based on solid and liquid manure management are then presented, and potentials for positive and negative interactions between pollutants, and between management practices, are discussed. The diversity of manure properties and environmental conditions necessitate a modelling approach for improving estimates of GHG emissions, and for predicting effects of management changes for GHG mitigation, and requirements for such a model are discussed. Finally, we briefly discuss drivers for, and barriers against, introduction of GHG mitigation measures for livestock production. There is no conflict between efforts to improve food and feed production, and efforts to reduce GHG emissions from manure management. Growth in livestock populations are projected to occur mainly in intensive production systems where, for this and other reasons, the largest potentials for GHG mitigation may be found.Keywords: methane, nitrous oxide, storage, treatment, farm model ImplicationsLivestock manure is a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, mainly as methane and nitrous oxide. GHG emissions are biogenic and regulated by manure characteristics, and therefore emissions can be manipulated via handling, treatment and storage conditions. Globally, livestock production systems vary widely, and this is also true for GHG mitigation potentials, but generally efforts to conserve nutrients in manure for crop production will also reduce GHG emissions. Future growth in livestock production is projected to occur mainly in confined animal feeding operations, which also appear to have the greatest potential for GHG mitigation. IntroductionSince the mid 20th century, there has been a growing pressure on land resources for production of food and feed for livestock and, increasingly, crops for energy production (Hoogwijk et al., 2005). To fulfil the demand for meat, milk and eggs, livestock production in developing countries is expanding, especially in peri-urban areas (Gerber et al., 2005), and worldwide becomes more specialised (Steinfeld et al., 2006). In consequence of these trends, increasing volumes of livestock manure are produced, which are a source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) contributing t...

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“…But such a route of manure management results in biogas (or methane) emissions and eutrophication of water bodies (Fujino et al, 2005;Gerber et al, 2005). Since the mid-1990s, while intensive livestock farming was practiced, its environmental impacts, such as water pollution from nitrate emissions, air pollution from ammonia emissions, soil pollution from excreta and heavy metal emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions, have become a serious problem (Martinez et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planning of methane emission control from hoggery using an inexact two-stage optimization model

Chen

2014

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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This study aims to develop an inexact two-stage optimization model to gather manure distributed over the southwest Taiwan and convert it into bioenergy. In the method, local optimization of each hauling zone is performed first using a gray mixed-integer programming model. Then, the hauling zones are prioritized by its performance on four gray scenarios. Although the biogas yield and the manure generation rate are ambiguous, one can easily evaluate his opportunity and risk by gray interval, which is a group of values within the lower and upper bounds. The analyses reveal that the biogas yield dominates the profit in this project, and it leads to the failure of the project when the biogas yield is below the level of 0.2 m 3 kg À1. With the goal of reducing 45% of methane emissions from pig farms, seven hauling zones are required to be developed. The farmers living in these zones from the project get carbon credits ranging from 478 to 3269 ton CO 2eq per year, and the investors own the carbon credits in the range of 3264-11820 ton CO 2eq per year. Through the carbon trading, both the investors and pig farmers are able to make profits by trading their carbon credits.Implications: Biogas recovered from hoggery can be used as a bioenergy source and mitigate the atmospheric greenhouse effect and global warming. This research develops an inexact two-stage optimization model to evaluate the potential of gathering manure for biogas and converting it into bioenergy. The analyses reveal that the biogas yield dominates the profit in this project, and it leads to the failure of the project when the biogas yield is below the level of 0.2 m 3 kg À1 . This study has provided a useful reference for the management of biogas production and carbon trading from hoggery for bioenergy.

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Geographical determinants and environmental implications of livestock production intensification in Asia

Cited by 165 publications

References 11 publications

Agronomic phosphorus imbalances across the world's croplands

Agronomic phosphorus imbalances across the world's croplands

Manure management for greenhouse gas mitigation

Planning of methane emission control from hoggery using an inexact two-stage optimization model

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