Environmental impacts of housing conditions and manure management in European pig production systems through a life cycle perspective: A case study in Denmark

Pexas, Georgios; Mackenzie, Stephen G.; Wallace, Michael; Kyriazakis, Ι.

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120005

Cited by 60 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Despite numerous farm-level studies evaluating the technical feasibility, economic benefits, and/or environmental impacts of alternative manure management practices for individual farms [ 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ], few studies have comprehensively investigated the critical factors affecting the choice and performance of such systems. The main objective of this study was to explore and understand the determining factors, and critical success and risk factors for alternative manure management systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative Management Systems of Beef Cattle Manure for Reducing Nitrogen Loadings: A Case-Study Approach

Wang

Ghimire

Wang

et al. 2021

Animals

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Livestock manure is one of the main sources of agricultural nonpoint source pollution and poses a great threat to the environment and human health. Sustainable management of manure via recycling is an effective means to tackle the problem. Based on field interviews in China, multiple case studies were employed to investigate alternative manure management systems. Four conclusions arose. First, compost-based systems, product-based systems, substrate-based systems, and biogas-based systems were identified as four main types of manure management systems, with each possessing its success factors and risk factors. The adoption of a system was driven by various factors. Second, market-oriented operation was the dominant operation mechanism of all the manure management systems. Third, compared to direct application of manure to croplands, all the four manure management systems could reduce nitrogen loadings from livestock farms and lower their environmental effects. Among the systems, biogas-based systems could reduce nitrogen loadings to the greatest extent, followed by product-based systems and substrate-based systems, and then by compost-based systems. Lastly, integrated management of manure with mixed recycling systems is imperative for reducing its environmental effects, which can benefit from the increasing role of third-party entities in manure recycling. Policy implications were also discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative Management Systems of Beef Cattle Manure for Reducing Nitrogen Loadings: A Case-Study Approach

Wang

Ghimire

Wang

et al. 2021

Animals

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“…A cradle-to farm gate, life cycle impact assessment framework was developed in SimaPro 8.5.0.0 (PRé Consultants, Amersfoort, The Netherlands) according to Pexas et al (2020b). The goal of the framework was to simulate the operation of the typical Danish integrated pig farming system, under baseline manure management conditions and with each of the alternative manure management strategies implemented.…”

Section: Goal and Scope Of Environmental Life Cycle Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We considered the use of six different diet formulations across the four production stages: gestating sow diet, lactating sow diet, nursery diet from 6.7 kg to 15 kg, nursery diet from 15 to 30 kg, growing diet from 30 to 65 kg and finishing diet from 65 to 110 kg-slaughter weight (Tybirk et al 2016). Potential environmental impacts associated with the production of individual feed ingredients and the preparation of diet formulations were considered in the analysis (Pexas et al 2020b).…”

Section: Pig Farming System Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Methane (CH 4 ) emissions and nutrient excretion (N, P, K) associated with animal growth within the pig farming system were calculated following the mass balance principle, tracing nutrient flows throughout the production stages. The effects of ambient temperature on indoor climate parameters, energy consumption for climate control and methane (CH 4 ), ammonia (NH 3 ), nitrous oxide (NO x ) and dinitrogen monoxide (N 2 O) emissions were also accounted for in the description of the system (Pexas et al 2020b). We used the same approach to model CH 4 , NH 3 , NO x , N 2 O and atmospheric nitrogen (N 2 ) emissions from slurry at pig housing (pen and slurry pits), slurry storage and field application.…”

Section: Pig Farming System Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…anaerobic digestion) through agglomeration effects, including knowledge and input sharing, and specialised labour supply that can improve farm technical efficiency and profitability (Cohen and Paul 2005;Larue et al 2011). Therefore, it is necessary that the potential geographic variability of economic parameters is addressed whenever possible, particularly when cost-effectiveness assessments are used to guide decision-making regarding strategies that aim to improve system sustainability and shape policies on a broader spatial scale (Ciroth et al 2002;Pexas et al 2020b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Accounting for spatial variability in life cycle cost-effectiveness assessments of environmental impact abatement measures

Pexas

Mackenzie

Wallace

et al. 2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose The environmental and economic impacts of livestock production systems are typically assessed using global characterisation factors and data, even though several impact categories call for site-specific assessments. Here, we account for spatial variability by addressing potential interactions between geographic locality and the cost-effectiveness of farm investments that aim to reduce system environmental impact, using Danish pig production as a case-in-point. Methods An LCA-based, spatially explicit environmental abatement cost framework was developed to assess the cost-effectiveness of potential environmental abatement strategies. The framework was tested for Danish pig production in a “4 manure management × 4 geographic location” scenario analysis design. In addition to the baseline, the alternative manure management strategies were on-farm anaerobic digestion, slurry acidification and screw press slurry separation, implemented in an integrated pig farming system. The geographic locations differed in their proximity to Natura 2000 areas and in pig farming density. Eight different impact categories were assessed through an LCA using spatially explicit characterisation factors whenever possible, and annualised abatement potential was estimated for each manure management scenario and in each geographic location. We also estimated the financial performance for each scenario, through a discounted cash flow analysis at a whole-farm level. Results and discussion We observed significant interactions between geographic location and system environmental and economic performance under baseline conditions. Significant location effects were also observed for the cost-effectiveness of all manure management strategies tested. Anaerobic digestion was the only “win–win” strategy that increased farm profits while reducing system environmental impact in two of the geographic cases: when implemented in a region of high pig farming density located near Natura 2000 and when implemented in a region of high pig farming density located far from Natura 2000 areas. Slurry acidification and slurry separation achieved sizeable abatement potential for impacts on ecosystem quality but incurred large additional costs in all geographic case studies considered, particularly when arable land was limited near the pig farm. Conclusions Accounting for basic spatial characteristics within an environmental abatement cost framework had significant impact on the cost-effectiveness of on-farm investments for mitigation of system environmental impact. To the best of our knowledge, no studies to date have utilised such spatial characteristics within environmental abatement cost modelling of livestock farming systems. The presented framework has the potential to be further expanded using more detailed spatial, economic and geophysical data, which could ultimately improve decision-making regarding cost-effective investments that aim to improve the sustainability of livestock farming operations.

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Modelling and ICT for Design of Animal Manure Management

Wang²

2023

Encyclopedia of Smart Agriculture Technologies

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Environmental impacts of housing conditions and manure management in European pig production systems through a life cycle perspective: A case study in Denmark

Cited by 60 publications

References 33 publications

Alternative Management Systems of Beef Cattle Manure for Reducing Nitrogen Loadings: A Case-Study Approach

Alternative Management Systems of Beef Cattle Manure for Reducing Nitrogen Loadings: A Case-Study Approach

Accounting for spatial variability in life cycle cost-effectiveness assessments of environmental impact abatement measures

Modelling and ICT for Design of Animal Manure Management

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