Just Accepted
This article has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication. It is in production and has not been edited, so may differ from the final published form.
Trends in the environmental impacts of the Australian pork industry
Stephen Wiedemann, Kalinda Watson, Leo Biggs 
, Eugene McGahan, Mary-Frances Copley
Abstract
Context: Over the past four decades, major changes have occurred in Australia’s pork industry, affecting productivity and environmental performance. Aims: This study determined long-term changes in greenhouse gas and key resource use efficiency indicators. Methods: Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to determine impacts at decadal intervals between 1980 and 2010, and are presented alongside results for 2020 and 2022. Key results: Over forty-two years since 1980, GHG emissions, excluding land use (LU) and direct land use change (dLUC), fell by 74% from 11.7 to 3.0 kg CO2-e/kg liveweight (LW). LU and dLUC emissions declined by 92%. Fossil energy use decreased from 35 to 13 MJ/kg LW between 1980 and 2022. Freshwater consumption and water stress fell from 506 L and 671 L H2O-e in 1980 to 52 L and 43 L H2O-e/kg LW in 2022, respectively. Land occupation decreased by 42% from 22 m2/kg LW in 1980 to 13 m2/kg LW in 2022. Over the analysis period, GHG emissions per kilogram of liveweight fell by an average of 1.8% per year, LU and dLUC emissions by 2.2%, GHG including LU and dLUC emissions by 1.9%, fossil energy use by 1.5%, and freshwater consumption, stress, and land occupation by 2.1%, 2.2%, and 1%, respectively. Between 2010 and 2020, uptake of covered anaerobic ponds resulted in an annual rate of improvement in GHG emissions (excl. LU & dLUC) of 2.9%, however, the rate of improvement fell to 1.4% between 2020 to 2022. Conclusions: Long-term improvements were principally driven by improved herd productivity and feed production systems, and changes in housing and manure management. Herd and system efficiencies led to better feed conversion ratio, resulting in lower feed requirements, reduced manure production and lower feed wastage, which reduced manure GHG emissions. Concurrently, reduced tillage, higher yields, and a decrease in the proportion of irrigation water used for grain production resulted in lower impacts feed grains. Implications: Ongoing changes and improvements in production efficiency have resulted in large gains in environmental performance in the Australian pork industry but new strategies will also be needed to maintain these trends into the future.
AN23361 Accepted 05 September 2024
© CSIRO 2024
