Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Frederikborgsvej 399, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark.
Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, 1103 Environmental Horticulture Bldg. One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Mar 10;759:144306. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144306. Epub 2020 Dec 8.
Feed consumption is responsible for the largest shares of resource use required for producing pork. In the European Union (EU), a meat consumption decrease is expected in combination with a growth of meat production driven by foreign demand. This paper presents a multiple environmental assessment of the resource use linked to EU pig feed by performing a material flow analysis of each single feed item constituting the EU pig diet. The global relevance and the trade-driven interlinkages are disclosed by considering the country-specific resource efficiencies of 254 territories. Our analysis reveals that in 2017 a total resource use of 14.5 Mha of land, 51.9 Gm of green water, 3.9 Gm of blue water, 1.23 Mtonnes of nitrogen, 0.35 Mtonnes of phosphorous, and 0.34 Mtonnes of potassium was required to satisfy the EU demand of pig feed. Wheat-based products accounted for the largest share of land use (32%), green water (35%), nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizer use (44% and 28%, respectively). Also soybean accounted for a significant share of land use (15%), green water (20%) and phosphorous from fertilizer use (25%). Moreover, soybean-related feed items contributed the most to the potassium use (24%). While the domestic production of cereals satisfied the demand, protein-based ingredients such as soybean were largely imported, mainly from South America, outsourcing the related environmental burden. Moreover, most of the feed from extra-EU countries resulted with higher resource use intensities than EU implying a potential resource saving if feed was domestically produced. Results obtained are discussed in relation to the many constraints that limit the possibility of increasing the EU feed production and promising alternative solutions. In particular, while some solutions seem promising in terms of savings, the current EU regulation needs to be redesigned to allow their implementation and the achievement of ambitious EU targets.
饲料消耗是生产猪肉所需资源利用的最大份额。在欧盟（EU），预计肉类消费会减少，同时由于外国需求，肉类产量将会增长。本文通过对构成欧盟猪饲料的每一种单一饲料进行物质流分析，对与欧盟猪饲料相关的资源利用进行了多方面的环境评估。通过考虑 254 个国家/地区的资源利用效率，揭示了全球相关性和贸易驱动的相互关系。我们的分析表明，2017 年，为了满足欧盟对猪饲料的需求，总共需要 1450 万公顷的土地、519 亿立方米绿水资源、39 亿立方米蓝水资源、123 万吨氮、350 万吨磷和 340 万吨钾。基于小麦的产品占土地利用（32%）、绿水资源（35%）和肥料氮磷使用量（分别为 44%和 28%）的最大份额。大豆也占土地利用（15%）、绿水资源（20%）和肥料磷使用量（25%）的显著份额。此外，与大豆相关的饲料项目对钾的利用贡献最大（24%）。虽然国内谷物生产满足了需求，但大豆等蛋白质成分主要从南美进口，从而将相关的环境负担外包出去。此外，来自非欧盟国家的大部分饲料的资源利用强度高于欧盟，这意味着如果饲料在国内生产，就有可能节约资源。所获得的结果与许多限制增加欧盟饲料生产的可能性和有前途的替代解决方案的限制因素进行了讨论。特别是，虽然一些解决方案在节约方面似乎很有前景，但当前的欧盟法规需要重新设计，以允许其实施并实现雄心勃勃的欧盟目标。
