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Sammenligning af miljøpåvirkningen af konkurrerende jordbrugsprodukter

Bilag D

Pig production in the USA and Brazil

D.1 USA

The McBride and Key reference contains useful information on how the economic and structure of the hog farms has changed rapidly in the USA over the past 20 years. As they say “once dominated by many small operations as part of traditional crop-hog farms, hog production has become highly concentrated on large operations with production on several sites”.

From 1982 to 1997, while the number of pig farms decreased by two thirds, the number of pigs per farm increased by more than 300% (source NASS census). Up to the early 1970s, the bulk of hog production was done at farrow-to-finish farms which produced their own corn based hog feed.

17 states produce over 94% of total US production. In 1997, Iowa was the largest producer (~12 million to market) with average farm size of ~850 head/farm. North Carolina was the second largest producer with ~9 million head with the most concentrated farms at ~3200 head/farm. From 1987 to 1997, NC had the largest growth in hog production (jumping from 12th to 2nd in total production).

Hog production has 3 phases: farrowing, nursing and finishing. The bulk of US farms either handle all 3 phases (farrow-to-finish) or specialized by handling either farrowing and nursing (farrow-to-feeder) or finishing (feeder-to-finish). Farrow-to-finish traditionally was the most common (~65% of total market in 1992), but has been replaced by specialization with farrow-to-finish operations accounting for only38% of total production. Clearly, if we are focusing on consequential LCA, then we should focus on specialized operations as most of the new production follows the specialization model.

First, we differentiate 4 different unit processes, some of which can be combined in some of the farm types. These unit processes are listed below.

1. Feed production
2. Breeding, gestation, and farrowing (breeding females and their maintenance during gestation, followed by birth of baby pigs, and their maintenance until weaning)
3. Nursery (care of pigs immediately after weaning until about 30-80 lbs)
4. Finishing (feeding hogs from 30-80 lbs to a slaughter weight of 225-300 pounds)

Next, national data shows the high importance of 2 regions in total pork production as well as industry growth. These two regions are the Midwest (or “heartland” region) and the Southeast (dominated by North Carolina). Based on this information, we have identified 3 different system types, 3 different chains of “typical operation”:

Midwest 1-site: breed-to-finish, moderate size (500-2000 head); here unit processes 2-4 occur on the same farm, and a significant portion of unit process 1 does as well;

Midwest 2-site:
breed-to-feed, moderate to large size, followed by feed to finish, moderate size

Southeast 2-site:
Breed-to-feed, industrial size (> 10,000 head)
Feed-to-finish, industrial size (> 10,000 head)

Life cycle inventory data has been developed for each of the above unit processes for each of the three system types.

Table D.1. Feed combination in US pig production.

D.2 Brazil

Data on swine production for different process types in Brazil has proved to be very sparse. Extensive contacts with technical staff at regional and national agencies have not been able to significantly improve the situation. Therefore, virtually all data for Brazil, summarized in the workbook titled “Data Compilation Brazil” are at the level of the total swine production sector, rather than for individual unit processes as provided in the US case.

In 2001, worldwide exports of pork grew 2%, with Brazil reaching a 47% increase. The U.S. export growth was 18%. Brazil is the fourth pork exporter in the world, following the European Union, Canada and the U.S. Russia is the main importer of pork from Brazil (in the form of split carcasses). Hong Kong is the second largest importer of Brazilian pork, followed by Argentina and Uruguay ^[19].

Since the 1970s, the pork industry in Brazil has shifted from a family backyard business to a modern system that is increasingly integrated. The primary production of pork is in the three southern states of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Parana. In 1999, 70% (approximately 9.012) of the hog producers in the Southern state of Santa Catarina were integrated (composed by agribusiness and small and medium swine producers – each producer specializes in separate production systems: breed to feeder, feeder to finish). Generally, big companies provide feed to small and medium swine producers (Southern region of Brazil) as well as transportation of hogs.

In Brazil there are currently 210 meat packing plants responsible for the slaughter of 37.7 million hogs in 2002. In the south, the slaughter rate was 170% higher with an average of 23 pigs/terminated/matrix/year, reaching an average of 110 kg in 150 days.

These production and productivity figures can be compared to those from the USA, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Holland and others. Sixty-five percent of the Brazilian total production is destined to the domestic market as processed products ^[20].

According to the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA), a farm in Mato Grasso (center region), a Brazilian joint venture currently has 12,200 sows. The company's goal is to expand to 18,000 sows by the end of the year and is projecting to reach 55,400 sows in 2005. The company plans to develop production pods of 10,000-plus sows with three-site production at each pod. According to IPPA, many costs including land, labor, facilities and energy are lower in Mato Grasso. The size of the farm is 1000 hectares (2,470 acres). The site provides excellent bio-security, has a natural barrier of a forest preserve, has a good supply of water, and the manure can be utilized on nearby farmland. Market hogs are transported 700 miles, with the trip lasting approximately 22 hours one-way. The company's management is focusing on pork production and may consider processing at some time in the future. Currently, feed is prepared on a custom basis by a feed mill in the area and plans include the construction of a feed mill. Given Brazil's large base of low cost land it is expected that its pork production will increase. Much of the increase will feed the domestic market, but exports are also expected to continue growing. Currently most of its exports are as frozen split carcasses to Russia, but it will likely try to expand into other markets ^[21].

The Center-West of Brazil (e.g. Mato Grosso state) is rapidly becoming one of the lowest cost swine production zones in the world. Expansion in swine production is most likely to occur in this region. Large corporations (e.g. Sadia) and multinational companies dominate swine production in mid Brazil, whereas in Southern Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Parana) small and medium swine producers – part of the integrated system - are responsible for most of the hog production. Production of swine, as in the cases of poultry and dairy are following feed sources to the extensive farming belt of the Center-West. Rapid rises in feed costs since 2001 are contributing to the rapid exit of small and medium-scale producers in the South who cannot make the move to the Center-West. The table below summarizes the current swine production in Brazil.

The Brazilian pork industry is growing. The following table provides a summary:

Table D.2. Overview of Brazilian pork industry. Source: Brazilian Pork Meat Industry and Exporter Association; Numbers are converted from 1,000 mt to million mt.

Table D.3. Swine Production 1990s onwards. Source: virtualcentre.org

Corn and soy bran are largely used in hog feed (total feed production in Brazil in 2003 was 40 million tons), with corn being the most predominant ingredient. Corn production will be most affected if a change in swine production occurs in Brazil. If hog production decreases, demand for corn will also decrease. In order to increase corn production, farmers can use modern machinery. Average corn yields using Nogueira Cimag equipment, model SDMN 15/35 are 1,232 kilos per hour with energy consumption of 3.1 kWh/h. Source: Brazilian government web site. www.redegoverno.com.br

Table D.4. Feed combination in Brazil pig production.

Figure D.1. Waste and Manure Management System In Southern Brazil. Source: Embrapa Santa Catarina. June 7, 2004.

Even though the Brazilian environmental legislation requires hog waste to be stored in the grooves for a maximum of 120 days, time varies depending on storage capability of grooves, availability of equipment (to transport hog waste and to prepare grooves), and the available agricultural land where manure will be applied.

Table D.5(below) shows the chemical composition of hog waste obtained in the Embrapa Waste Management Unit in the city of Condordia, Santa Catarina State. According to Embrapa technicians, in general the samples presented low percentage of nutrients, which decreases the potential use and application of manure as agricultural fertilizer (approximately 38% of hog manure had less than 5 kg m3 of nutrients).

Table D.5. Chemical Composition of Swine Waste (mg/L). Source: Diesel, Robert, Miranda, Claudio R., and Carlos C. Perdomo. “ Coletanea de Tecnologias Sobre Dejetos Suinos.” Boletim Informativo BIPERS. August, 2002.

Table D.6. Waste (kg/day) in swine production.Source: Diesel, Robert, Miranda, Claudio R., and Carlos C. Perdomo. “Coletanea de Tecnologias Sobre Dejetos Suinos.” Boletim Informativo BIPERS. August, 2002

Table C.7. Definition of animal units.Source: University of maryland, 2004.

References

Lawrence, J. D. (1998). The State of Iowa's Pork Industry. In “Iowa's Pork Industry – Dollars and Scents”. Iowa State Department of Economics. Full text available at http://www.econ.iastate.edu/outreach/agriculture/livestock/
pork/dollars_and_scents/chapter1/introduction.html

USDA-NASS Agricultural Statistics 2000. Chapter 7: Statistics of Cattle, Hogs, and Sheep.

http://www.usda.gov/nass/pubs/agr00/acro00.htm

University of Maryland. (2004). Animal Unit Equivalencies. Available at http://www.agnr.umd.edu/montgomery/animalunit.html

http://www.nass.usda.gov/wy/internet/rangerev/rr0311.pdf

Fodnoter

[19] Source: Iowapork.org

[20] Source: Brazilian Pork Meat Industry and Exporter Association. www.abipecs.com.br

[21] Source: Lawrence, John. D. “New Emerging Competitors – Why are they a concern?” Department of Economics, Iowa State University. London Swine Conference – Maintaining Your Competitive Edge 9-10 April 2003

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Version 1.0 August 2005, © Miljøstyrelsen.