The use and impacts on land and soils, air, water, and greenhouse gases all make up the environmental footprint of pork production. This section highlights many different aspects of pork production and how those impact emissions of greenhouse gases and other aspects of environmental impact.
| Estimating Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) | ||
| Carbon Footprint and Life Cycle Assessment – The Basics | ||
| Which GHGs Are Emitted by Pig Farms? | Carbon Footprint of the Pork Industry | What Is the Role of Models? |
| Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions | ||
| The Basics | Diet (Reduced Nitrogen) | |
| Animal Health | Growth Enhancers | Algae Nutrient Removal |
| Solid-Liquid Separation | Anaerobic Digestion | |
| Beyond Greenhouse Gases | ||
| Environmental Footprint | Land Footprint | Economics (Life Cycle Costing or LCC) |
| Water Footprint (University fact sheet) | Water Footprint (Pork Checkoff) | Air Quality |
Tools for Farmers
Pork Production Environmental Footprint Calculator – a tool that allows users to input data from a farm and look at the environmental and economic implications of difference choices.
Materials for Educators
Ag in the Classroom activity on exploring interactions between agricultural decisions and greenhouse gas emissions using swine production
Fact sheets: What is a water footprint? | What is a land footprint? | What is a carbon footprint?
Videos/Archived Webinars
- Thermal Conversion of Animal Manure to Biofuel – Go to archive… (February, 2014)
- Life Cycle Assessment Modeling for the Pork Industry – Go to archive…. (July, 2012)
- Producer Association Efforts to Address Carbon Footprint (Pork and Poultry) – Go to archive… (June, 2012)
Research Summaries
a five-year project examining different aspects of the environmental footprint of pork production was recently completed. This project looked at feed rations, animal health, and manure management to provide data for integration into a comprehensive
- Integrated Process-Based Swine Operation Model with LCA and LCC Economic Analysis
- Impact of Health Status and Viral Exposure on GHG Emissions
- Effects of Amino Acid Supplementation with Reduced Dietary Crude Protein
- Manure Management
- Algal Nutrient Removal
- Solids Separation
- Auger Reactor Gasification
Acknowledgements
This information is part of the program “Integrated Resource Management Tool to Mitigate the Carbon Footprint of Swine Produced In the U.S.,” and is supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2011-68002-30208 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Project website: https://lpelc.org/integrated-resource-management-tool-to-mitigate-the-carbon-footprint-of-swine-produced-in-the-united-states/.