Reducing feed environmental impacts for livestock

Abstract

Animal feeding accounts for 30 to 95 % of environmental impacts of animal products when leaving the farm. Data have been published so far but no data were available for the French context. The ECOALIM project produced a database on the environmental impacts of feed ingredients used for animal nutrition in France (154 feed ingredients). A methodology for multiobjective feed formulation has been developed to produce ecofeeds with reduced impacts and cost control. Feed impacts were modified by - 6 % to - 14 % in growing pig production and by +4% to -18% in broiler production depending on the impact considered and relative to the lowest cost formulation and current availability of feed ingredients. Simultaneously, feed price was increased by 1 % on average in pig production and 3% in broiler production. With restricted 2-phase feeding, the impacts of the kilogram of growing pig when leaving the farms were reduced by - 2 to - 10%. With 3-phase feeding, the impacts of the kilogram of broiler when leaving the farm were reduced by - 2 to - 14 % (except for land occupation which was increased by + 3%). At the regional scale, the reduction of feed impact did not exceed – 10 % due to competition for low impact feed ingredients between livestock supply chain.