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(T/MC248) Emission of greenhouse gases from pork production -an environmental systems analysis of a Swedish farm. Elmquist, Helena1, Strid Eriksson, Ingrid1, Kasimir Klemedtsson, Åsa2, Nybrant, Thomas1, 1 2 ABSTRACT- Agriculture contributes to the greenhouse effect by emissions of CH4, N2O and CO2. At a pig farm methane is emitted from stables and slurry storages and dinitrogen oxide are emitted from the soil following slurry application. Diesel consumption during machinery operations leads to emissions of carbon dioxide with fossil origin. The aim of this study was to estimate the contribution of greenhouse gases during the production of pork on a farm, from "cradle to farm gate", for two management strategies. A simulation model, SALSA, (Systems AnaLysis for Sustainable Agriculture), was constructed and used to estimate the inflow and outflow of material and energy on a Swedish farm. The weighting factors for estimation of the three gases relative contribution to the greenhouse effect were based on a 100 years horizon, according to common LCA-methodology. Results showed that the largest sources of greenhouse gases were CH4-emissions from the stable, CH4-emissions from the slurry storage and N2O-emissions from the soil after application of animal manure. CO2 emissions from machinery work were much lesser than the other three sources. The results highlighted the three largest sources of greenhouse emissions during pork production, but the emissions factors, which the model is based on, are however uncertain. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a task, which today has high priority and this study showed the need for more measurements from farms to increase the accuracy of the simulation. Key words: environmental systems analysis, pork production, greenhouse effect |
