Producing Pigmeat Sustainably
Gerard McCutcheon, Teagasc Pig Specialist, takes us through some of the Indicators of Sustainability of the pig industry, the improvements that have been made over the years, and where we should focus our efforts going forward.
World Population
Global demand for food continues to grow. It is hard to believe that the world population has risen from three billion in 1960 to over seven and a half billion at present. It continues to rise each year and is expected to hit eight billion by 2030. As the world population edges towards nine billion people by 2050 the challenge for the sector is to develop a “sustainable” and safe food chain in the production of pigmeat.
Sustainability
A useful definition of “sustainable” is “meeting the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Bruntland Report, 1987). Future food production systems must be sustainable in terms of delivering a supply of safe, healthy food with low environmental impacts in terms of emissions and biodiversity. This will require a huge level of innovation and involve major improvements in efficiency and waste reduction and access to new types of technology.
Sustainability must be economic, social and environmental. Some people associate “sustainability” with the three Ps - profit, people and planet.
How sustainable is pigmeat production?
How can we assess whether pigmeat production in Ireland is sustainable? Our aim must be to demonstrate the environmental sustainability of the system used to produce pigmeat in Ireland, and, show that the sector is committed to improving this in the years ahead. We can do this by highlighting best practice on Demonstration and/or SignPost farms. There is a huge body of work in establishing best practices and communicating this to all pigmeat producers. Some areas to assess this process are listed below but it is expected that new areas will be added as we progress on this journey.
Suggested Indicators of Sustainability
Economic Indicators
- Profitability of the process over time,
- Production costs and prices received for pigmeat,
- The economic value of the sector to the national economy.
Environmental Indicators
- Carbon footprint per kg of liveweight produced,
- Energy use per pig produced (kWh /pig produced),
- Emissions from production,
- Nutrients retained, excreted and recovered (mainly nitrogen and phosphorous and some trace minerals),
- Water use per pig produced.
Social Indicators
- Employment value of pig farm to local community,
- Indirect value to local/ national economy,
- Antibiotic usage per kg of pigmeat produced,
- Improvements in animal healthcare and welfare in our production system.
Various models have been developed to measure the total carbon footprint of many production systems. For pig production these take account of the feed ingredients used, the transport of the feed, the pigs produced per sow per year and the various inputs (feed type and ingredients, energy inputs, manure storage and management etc) as well as the amount of pigmeat produced.
A model which has been developed by the Carbon Trust in the UK is currently being reviewed by Bord Bia to support the claims made by the Origin Green Programme. The proposed Carbon model will benchmark best practice at individual farm level alongside the overall national average figures for the sector .
The proposed Carbon model for the Irish pig sector was developed in collaboration between Bord Bia (who engaged The Carbon Trust to develop and validate the model) and the Teagasc Pig Development Department. It is proposed to pilot this model with a number of pig farms on a voluntary basis over the next 12 months.
Over the years many improvements have been achieved in terms of the “sustainability” credentials of pigmeat production. The on-going work on the Teagasc SignPost farms will help deliver the relevant messages to a much wider audience over the next few years. This will be an important part of communicating the pertinent messages on this journey of improvement.
Future Focus
The emphasis in the future should be a renewed focus on the use of organic fertiliser (in the form of pig slurry/manure) to replace chemical fertiliser in the growth of grass and various tillage crops. Podcasts, short videos and some news articles to disseminate the messages from these demonstrations have been developed and will continue to demonstate that pig manure/slurry can replace chemical fertiliser.
In collaboration with the Teagasc Tillage Specialists and relevant Advisors we have run a number of Demonstrations on farms to highlight this message. We would hope to repeat this in the future.
It is expected that the use of renewable energy sources and bioenergy to replace fossil fuels (directly and indirectly) on pig farms will continue to increase on pig farms as a result of the economic savings that can be achieved in energy/fuel costs.
There are still challenges to be dealt with but we must focus on improving efficiency at all stages of the food supply chain while not compromising food quality.
Efficiency Improvements over the years
It is important to recognise the achievements of the past and build upon those achievements. It is useful to look at 1990 as a base year (because it is a reference year in terms of the Kyoto Agreement which is often cited in relation to green-house gas emission targets) and compare current productivity and input usage.
Irish pig producers produced 1350kg of pigmeat per sow in 1990 (with an FCE from weaning to sale of 2.45). This figure has improved to 2,549 kg of pig carcase weight/sow in 2021 and an average FCE of 2.39 from weaning to sale. This was achieved by increased output/sow/year (i.e. 21.9 up to 28.1 pigs produced/sow/year) and increased slaughter weights (82 kg liveweight in 1990 up to 118.4kg liveweight in 2021). While the drop in FCE weaning to sale is very small (2.45 to 2.39) it is very significant particularly when you factor in the rise in sale weight (as the FCE increases as the pigs get heavier).
The output of pigmeat produced per sow has increased greatly between 1990 and 2021 as shown above. During this time there has also been a strong focus on reducing inputs, in particular reducing feed usage per kg of pigmeat produced along with achieving greater efficiency in the use of other inputs (such as energy, healthcare products, etc). This is evident in the crude protein levels in diets used in 1990 compared to the reduced levels used today which has resulted in reduced excretion of surplus organic nitrogen in the pig manure.
Also the level of phosphorus (P) excreted by pigs has greatly reduced from a figure of 26kg/sow plus progeny / annum in the early 1990s to a current level of 17 kg/sow plus progeny/annum. This was achieved through more accurate formulation of diets on a digestible P rather than a total P basis, and by the use of phytase enzyme to improve the digestibility of plant bound P in the feed ingredients.
All of the changes through the years have improved the sustainability of the production process. There is room for further progress and new technologies and innovations should further enhance the “sustainability” credentials of the sector.