Localising livestock protein feed production and the impact on land use and greenhouse gas emissions

Livestock farmers in Sweden usually grow feed grains for livestock but import protein feed from outside Sweden. Aside from the economic implications, some environmental issues are associated with this practice. We used life cycle assessment to evaluate the impact of local protein feed production on land use and greenhouse gas emissions, compared with the use of imported protein feed, for pig meat and dairy milk produced in Sweden. Our results showed that local production reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 4.5% and 12%, respectively, for pigs and dairy cows. Land use for feed production in Sweden increased by 11% for pigs and 25% for dairy cows, but total land use decreased for pig production and increased for dairy milk production. Increased protein feed cultivation in Sweden decreased inputs needed for animal production and improved some ecological processes (e.g. nutrient recycling) of the farm systems. However, the differences in results between scenarios are relatively small and influenced to an extent by methodological choices such as co-product allocation. Moreover, it was difficult to assess the contribution of greenhouse emissions from land use change. The available accounting methods we applied did not adequately account for the potential land use changes and in some cases provided conflicting results. We conclude that local protein feed production presents an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but at a cost of increasing land occupation in Sweden for feed production

Trends in greenhouse gas emissions from consumption and production of animal food products - implications for long-term climate targets

To analyse trends in greenhouse (GHG) emissions from production and consumption of animal products in Sweden, life-cycle emissions were calculated for the average production of pork, chicken meat, beef, dairy and eggs in 1990 and 2005. The calculated average emissions were used together with food consumption statistics and literature data on imported products to estimate trends in per capita emissions from animal food consumption. Total life cycle emissions from the Swedish livestock production were around 8.5 Mt carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) in 1990 and emissions decreased to 7.3 Mt CO2e in 2005 (14% reduction). Around two-thirds of the emission cut was explained by more efficient production (less GHG emission per product unit) and one third was due to a reduced animal production. The average GHG emissions per product unit until the farm-gate were reduced by 20% for dairy, 15% for pork and 23% for chicken meat, unchanged for eggs and increased by 10% for beef. A larger share of the average beef was produced from suckler cows in cow-calf systems in 2005 due to the decreasing dairy cow herd, which explains the increased emissions for the average beef in 2005. The overall emissions cuts from the livestock sector were a result of several measures taken in farm production, for example increased dairy yield per cow, lowered use of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers in grasslands, reduced losses of ammonia from manure and a switch to biofuels for heating in chicken houses. In contrast to production, total GHG emissions from the Swedish consumption of animal products increased by around 22% between 1990 and 2005. This was explained by strong growth in meat consumption based mainly on imports, where growth in beef consumption especially was responsible for most emission increase over the 15-year period. Swedish GHG emissions caused by consumption of animal products reached around 1.1 tonnes CO2e per capita in 2005. The emission cuts necessary for meeting a global temperature-increase target of 2 degrees might imply a severe constraint on the long-term global consumption of animal food. Due to the relatively limited potential for reducing food-related emissions by higher productivity and technological means, structural changes in food consumption towards less emission intensive food might be required for meeting the 2-degree target

Greenhouse gas mitigation potentials in the livestock sector

Acknowledgements This paper constitutes an output of the Belmont Forum/FACCE-JPI funded DEVIL project (NE/M021327/1). Financial support from the CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the EU-FP7 AnimalChange project is also recognized. P.K.T. acknowledges the support of a CSIRO McMaster Research Fellowship.Peer reviewedPostprin

Human Use of Land and Organic Materials: Modeling the Turnover of Biomass in the Global Food System

This thesis is directed towards the issue of the long-term demand and supply of biomass for food, energy and materials. In the coming decades, the global requirements for biomass for such services are likely to increase substantially. Therefore, improved knowledge of options for mitigating the long-term production requirements and the associated effects on the Earth system is essential. The thesis gives a thorough survey of the current flows of biomass in the food system. This survey was carried out by means of a physical model which was developed as part of the work. For eight world regions, the model is used to calculate the necessary production of crops and other phytomass from a prescribed end-use of food, efficiency in food production and processing, as well as use of by-products and residues. The model includes all major categories of phytomass used in the food system, depicts all flows and processes on a mass and energy balance basis, and contains detailed descriptions of the production and use of all major by-products and residues generated within the system. The global appropriation of terrestrial phytomass production induced by the food system was estimated to some 13 Pg dry matter per year in 1992-94. Of this phytomass, about 0.97 Pg, or 7.5 percent, ended up as food commodities eaten. Animal food systems accounted for roughly two-thirds of the total appropriation of phytomass, whereas their contribution to the human diet was about one-tenth. Use of by-products and residues as feed, and for other purposes within the food system, was estimated to about 1.8 Pg dry matter, or 14 percent of the total phytomass appropriation. The results also show large differences in efficiency for animal food systems, between regions as well as between separate commodities. The feed conversion efficiencies of cattle meat systems were estimated to about 2 percent in industrial regions, and around 0.5 percent in most non-industrial regions (on gross energy basis). For pig and poultry systems, feed conversion efficiencies were roughly a factor of ten higher. The differences suggest that there is a substantial scope for mitigating the long-term production demand for crops and other phytomass by increases in efficiency and changes in dietary preferences

Human Use of Land and Organic Materials: Modeling the Turnover of Biomass in the Global Food System

This thesis is directed towards the issue of the long-term demand and supply of biomass for food, energy and materials. In the coming decades, the global requirements for biomass for such services are likely to increase substantially. Therefore, improved knowledge of options for mitigating the long-term production requirements and the associated effects on the Earth system is essential. The thesis gives a thorough survey of the current flows of biomass in the food system. This survey was carried out by means of a physical model which was developed as part of the work. For eight world regions, the model is used to calculate the necessary production of crops and other phytomass from a prescribed end-use of food, efficiency in food production and processing, as well as use of by-products and residues. The model includes all major categories of phytomass used in the food system, depicts all flows and processes on a mass and energy balance basis, and contains detailed descriptions of the production and use of all major by-products and residues generated within the system. The global appropriation of terrestrial phytomass production induced by the food system was estimated to some 13 Pg dry matter per year in 1992-94. Of this phytomass, about 0.97 Pg, or 7.5 percent, ended up as food commodities eaten. Animal food systems accounted for roughly two-thirds of the total appropriation of phytomass, whereas their contribution to the human diet was about one-tenth. Use of by-products and residues as feed, and for other purposes within the food system, was estimated to about 1.8 Pg dry matter, or 14 percent of the total phytomass appropriation. The results also show large differences in efficiency for animal food systems, between regions as well as between separate commodities. The feed conversion efficiencies of cattle meat systems were estimated to about 2 percent in industrial regions, and around 0.5 percent in most non-industrial regions (on gross energy basis). For pig and poultry systems, feed conversion efficiencies were roughly a factor of ten higher. The differences suggest that there is a substantial scope for mitigating the long-term production demand for crops and other phytomass by increases in efficiency and changes in dietary preferences

Global Use of Agricultural Biomass for Food and Non-Food Purposes: Current Situation and Future Outlook

Globally, humans currently use roughly 13 petagrams (billion metric tons) dry matter per year of biomass for food (incl. feed), energy and materials purposes. In energy terms, this use corresponds to about 240 exajoules (~5.7 billion metric ton oil eq.), and is almost of the same order of magnitude as the current use of all fossil fuels, in total 390 exajoules. Agricultural biomass from cropland and permanent pasture for food is by far the largest category, accounting for about 85 percent of total human biomass use. Non-food use of agricultural biomass is relatively small, in total around 0.5-1 petagram, and consists mainly of by-products and residues from agriculture and food industry used for energy purposes, and to some extent also materials purposes. Crops dedicated for materials (e.g. fiber) or energy (e.g. fuels) purposes grown on agricultural land is in comparison almost negligible, reaching about 0.2-0.3 petagrams. However, in the coming decades, production of dedicated energy and materials crops is likely to rise substantially, at a faster rate than conventional food crops. This applies in particular to energy crops, since the potential future demand for bioenergy is much larger than for biomaterials. If stringent (i.e. low CO2 emissions) climate policies are implemented, energy crops production is likely to increase considerably, and may reach orders of magnitude of around ~5 petagrams or more

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