Research determines pork industry's carbon footprint
By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 02/04/2010 8:40 AM
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MINNEAPOLIS – The Pork Checkoff is funding research to determine the pork industry's carbon footprint.
Greg Thoma, a professor of agriculture chemical engineering at the University of Arkansas, presented the research team's preliminary results Jan. 20 during Minnesota Pork Congress in Minneapolis.
The team put together a life cycle assessment to learn how much greenhouse gas emissions are made in the process of delivering one serving of pork to a U.S. consumer. Their evaluation worked through the process of growing crops for feed to disposal of the meat's packaging.
The result: It takes somewhere between 1.8 to 2.7 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents for a four ounce piece of pork to be cooked and consumed. To pinpoint a number, researchers are sticking to the middle of their range, saying a single pork serving's carbon footprint is 2.2 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents.
For perspective, Thoma said using a gallon of gas in a standard vehicle typically emits 20 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents.
The study debunks the idea that eating local food is key to a healthy environment because transportation didn't contribute a significant amount to the total carbon footprint, Thoma said. Pork processing also didn't significantly contribute to the total, but it did consumer large amounts of energy.
Almost 67 percent of the carbon footprint's total took place at the farm. Retail locations and the consumer's own home made significant dents, too. Stores that sold the pork contributed 14 percent and homes contributed approximately 13 percent. It makes a difference if the pork is cooked in an electric or natural gas oven.
Researchers found the biggest opportunity to decrease the farm's contribution lies in manure management. The study compared standard manure emissions from anaerobic lagoons and deep pits. The lagoons emitted large amounts of methane. That could be improved if the lagoons were replaced with anaerobic digesters to reduce methane emissions and generate electricity.
Improving manure management could help reduce pork's carbon footprint and the farm's bottom line, Thoma said.
The next phase of the study will involve a detailed analysis. Researchers want to find other ways energy could be saved on farms and develop models of energy consumption based on different scenarios.
Thoma said these life cycle assessments are key to improving efficiencies to support the economy and conserve resources for the future.
"For me the thing that's really going to be important for 50 years is agriculture," he said.
Carbon footprints are important to consumers. Industries can be proactive by learning their carbon footprint.
To be in compliance with international standards, the researchers accounted for every extraction from nature in their study. The University of Arkansas prides itself on transparency in their research, Thoma said, so during the seminar he detailed many assumptions that were used, such as the hogs' diet and consumer waste levels.He also noted researchers did not account for carbon sequestration while growing crops for feed because that is highly dependent on tillage practices.