U.K. pig farms lower carbon footprint 40% in 20 years: study

U.K. pig farmers have decreased their carbon footprint by nearly 40% in the last 20 years, a new study found.

The research, funded by the European Union, was led by the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland. It used historic data on livestock systems across England, Scotland and Wales.

While the environmental impact per unit of meat from pig systems is relatively low, pig meat is the most produced and consumed meat globally and therefore contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. In 2013, pig systems were estimated to contribute to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions produced by livestock systems overall, according to the announcement.

Animal feed was found to be central to the environmental impact of pig farms, accounting for between 75% and 80% of the carbon footprint. Thus, changes to feed ingredients had the potential to significantly alter the carbon rating of pig farms and the industry as a whole. Specifically, the increasing trend of replacing soya imported from South America (which has a high environmental footprint associated with deforestation) with homegrown crops such as rapeseed and sunflower meal to feed pigs was found to significantly reduce environmental impacts.

Changes in animal performance due to new breeding practices was also found to have contributed significantly to a reduced environmental impact.

“The reason this research is so significant is that it shows an area of livestock farming where carbon footprint has been reducing over the past 20 years, almost under the radar,” said Professor Ilias Kyriazakis, who led the study.

“Some of the improvements identified in this study could potentially be applied to other animal systems, which would ultimately help move our collective agriculture systems towards a carbon-neutral model,” Kyriazakis said.