Swine production: how sustainable is sustainability?

Vonderohe, Caitlin; Brizgys, Lauren Ann; Richert, Jacob A; Radcliffe, J. S.

doi:10.1093/af/vfac085

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 75 publications

(93 reference statements)

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“…), and to the transportation of feed, manure, and the end-product. Furthermore, due to water scarcity, water consumption and freshwater resources contamination are of crucial importance regarding the sustainability of the sector [19]. These activities can result in increased emissions of GHG, including methane and ammonia, which stem from inadequate approaches to manure management, storage, and waste management [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circular Bioeconomy Practices in the Greek Pig Sector: The Environmental Performance of Bakery Meal as Pig Feed Ingredient

Melas,

Batsioula,

Malamakis

et al. 2023

Sustainability

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Food systems and, to an extent, the pig sector are major contributors of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. At the same time, significant amounts of waste are produced from the food sector. The aim of this study is to examine the implementation of circular bio-economy practices in the Greek pig sector to improve its environmental performance. More specifically, in collaboration with a pig farm in Northern Greece and a waste management company, the collection and processing of bakery by-products was organized to produce bakery meal (BM) to integrate it in the diets of fattening and growing pigs. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, the environmental performance of 20% BM inclusion in pig diets was examined in comparison with the conventional feedstock. BM experimentally replaced corn, wheat, barley, and soya bean from conventional feedstock. The Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) was based on the yearly average values of feed and energy consumption to produce 1 kg of living weight of pig on the pig farm. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) was conducted with SimaPro v3.5, using Recipe Midpoint Hierarchical v1.6. The LCIA calculations exhibited that BM inclusion in pig diets can lead to significant land occupation decrease, approximately 30%, which is mostly related to reduced wheat and soya beans. The reduction of cultivated croplands also led to reduced fertilizer and pesticide application, which improved marine eutrophication and freshwater ecotoxicity impact by 20% while it significantly reduced risks of human carcinogenic toxicity by 25%. Moreover, the Greek pig sector exhibited a 5% capacity for overall improvement of its environmental performance, which relies on minimizing logistics when the pig farm conducted collection and processing of by-products. A basic assumption of this study is the assessment of bakery by-product quantities in the wider region of the pig farm. The availability of by-products, based on the reported experience, was limited, and the reliability of the supply was frequently disrupted. As such, the supply chain model of the central hub for the collection and processing of bakery by-products is proposed as more efficient for regulating logistic challenges and availability.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circular Bioeconomy Practices in the Greek Pig Sector: The Environmental Performance of Bakery Meal as Pig Feed Ingredient

Melas,

Batsioula,

Malamakis

et al. 2023

Sustainability

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“…Honeyman [ 2 ] comprehensively reviewed the major sustainability issues, including economic, environmental, and social sustainability, that swine production faced in the US. Unfortunately, almost 30 years after, these sustainability issues still persistently exist in the pig industry in the US [ 3 , 4 ] and other advanced industrial countries [ 5 , 6 ] and have been further expanded and intensified in the rest of the global intensive pig production regions [ 7 , 8 ]. On the one hand, this serves as a testimonial that resolving some of the fundamental animal biological questions and associated technological innovations associated with swine production is very challenging; on the other hand, it also calls for swine researchers to have resilience in pursuing their research efforts and for society to consistently give the much-needed and long-term support and investment for research resources.…”

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confidence: 99%

Modulation of Porcine Gut Microbiota and Microbiome: Hologenomic, Dietary, and Endogenous Factors

Fan,

Kim

2024

Pathogens

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“…The lead article in this issue by Vonderohe et al (2022) starts by asking the big question - how sustainable is sustainability? While there is a tendency to treat sustainability as a single entity that can heroically solve all of our problems going forward.…”

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confidence: 99%