Environmental Assessment of Two Pork Supply Chains Using Life Cycle Assessment

The pork industry, together with many other agricultural industries, has come under increasing pressure to quantify important environmental impacts and resource usage from the production of pork. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an ideal tool for quantifying these impacts and resource usage for a whole supply chain. This report presents LCA results for two Australian pork supply chains for global warming potential (GWP), water usage and primary energy usage, and covers a range of management options. The report summarises the data collected as part of the life cycle inventory (LCI) stage of the project which was previously presented in milestone reports for this project and incorporates the project conclusions and recommendations. Keywords: Pork, pig, swine, LCA, GHG, greenhouse gas, water use, energy use

Citation: Wiedemann, SG, EJ McGahan, SL Grist and T Grant (2010) "Environmental Assessment of Two Pork Supply Chains Using Life Cycle Assessment", RIRDC Publication No 09/176, RIRDC Project No PRJ-3176 and PRJ-4519, January 2010

Weblink: rirdc.infoservices.com.au/downloads/09-176.pdf

PDF: RIRDC_Pork_LCA.pdf

Life Cycle Assessment of two Australian Pork Supply Chains

Australia’s primary industries are under increasing environmental, social and economic pressure to measure and reduce resource use and environmental impacts. For the pork industry, major resource and environ-mental issues are related to water use, energy use (primary energy – PE) and greenhouse gas emissions (measured as global warming potential – GWP). To address this, a project was conducted to assess of water use, PE, and GWP of two Australian pork supply chains using life cycle assessment. One supply chain was located in southern Australia with pigs grown-out in deep-litter sheds. The second supply chain was located in northern Australia, where all pigs were housed in slatted and flushed sheds. The study investigated pork production through to the point of wholesale distribution of carcasses using the functional unit, ‘1 kilogram of hot standard carcass weight – HSCW’. Primary energy use in the two supply chains varied from 20.3 – 24.5 MJ/kg HSCW and GWP for the two supply chains measured 3.1 and 5.5 kg CO2-eq./kg HSCW. Waste stream emissions were found to be the major contributor to GWP.

Citation: Wiedemann, SG, EJ McGahan, SL Grist and T Grant. (2010) "Life Cycle Assessment of two Australian Pork Supply Chains", Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector, Bari, Italy 2010 p 227-232.

PDF: Pork_LCA_2010.pdf

National Environmental Sustainability Strategy for the Pork Industry 2010–2015

The Australian pork industry is dedicated to producing environmentally sustainable pork, which involves fostering a long-term competitive pork industry in Australia while maintaining our natural resources and the environment for future generations. The Australian pork industry is so much more than just a commodity producer. Pork has the potential to be the most emission friendly animal protein source of the future. As well as producing a safe and tasty protein, the pork industry is also a responsible player in managing its environmental impact, but in ways that constantly underpin value in the final product. By becoming better environmental stewards, the pork industry can create new sources of value and economic opportunities for everyone in the supply chain. Australian Pork Limited (APL) has a vision of a sustainable, competitive Australian pork industry that actively integrates sound environmental practices throughout the entire supply chain, from the piggeries to the abattoirs/boning rooms and processors (‘processors’). The main environmental opportunities and challenges facing the Australian pork industry include: • resources and services—water usage, energy usage, transport and feed grain supply • soil and catchment health—optimising reuse of by-product nutrients, healthy soils and enhancing catchment health • climate change—effectively managing and utilising gaseous emissions, renewable energy and climate variability and drought, and • community interactions—amenity impacts, community perception of industry and regulatory environment.

Citation: Australian Pork Ltd (2010). National Environmental Sustainability Strategy for the Pork Industry 2010–2015. 43-49 Geils Court, Deakin ACT 2600

Weblink: www.australianpork.com.au/pages/images/11pt_NESS_lowres.pdf

PDF: APL_NESS.pdf