Life Cycle Assessment

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   1. Objectives
   2. Learning goals
   3. Teacher page
2. Course content: Life cycle assessment (LCA) of pork chains
   1. What are the environmental impact of food production?
   2. Global warming
   3. GWP of different foods
   4. Nutrient enrichment (eutrophication)
   5. Acidification
3. How to access environmental impact of pork?
   1. LCA of 1 kg Danish Pork
   2. What is included in a LCA?
   3. Phase 1
   4. Phase 2
   5. Phase 3
   6. Phase 4
   7. System expansion and allocation
4. LCA for different production Systems
   1. The Danish standard system
   2. The Danish organic system
   3. The French standard system
   4. The Alternative French system: Porc Basque
   5. Summary of performance and LCA in the four systems
5. Completion
   1. Comments
   2. Self-assessment
   3. Key messages
   4. Further reading and references
   5. Evaluation
   6. Acknowledgement

The Danish standard system

In the standard system in Denmark pregnant sows can be confined in individual conventional crates the first four weeks of gestation. The crates have slatted floor except for the first 90 cm from the feeding trough. The additional weeks of gestation sows must be housed in a loose-housing system with slatted floor and 2 - 2.8m²/sow depending on flock size. For gilts the area is 1.5 - 1.9m² depending on flock size. The farrowing pen is usually an individual crate with the sow confined. Piglets and lactating sows stay in crates until weaning (between 21 and 28 days after farrowing). Pregnant and lactating sows must have access to straw or another type of fibrous feed. Weaned piglets (until 10 weeks of age) are kept in a post-weaning area with slatted floor and 0.15 - 0.40m²/piglet depending on weight. Fattening pigs (older than 10 weeks) have 0.3 - 1.0m²/pig (increasing with the weight of the pig). Pigs are generally bred in batches and there are no particular regulations on feed, which could be bought or produced on the farm. Pigs are fed at least once a day.

Pregnant sows in farrowing crate without straw. Video: Rebecka Westlin