What is the PigProGrAm?
The PigProGrAm is a project, part funded by InnovateUK, that piloted a practical carbon reduction system focused on nutrition and manure management. The 2023 farm-scale project achieved a phenomenal 71% carbon equivalent reduction per pig.
Feed is the biggest contributor to the carbon footprint of livestock, and in turn the produce on the supermarket shelf. Growing crops for animal fodder takes up a lot of UK land and resource, while imported soya is also recognised as being problematic.
At the ‘other end’, forgive the pun, disposal of manure is an ongoing problem for livestock farmers as the sector is challenged to manage the unavoidable issue in ways that are harmonized with our society and the environment.
To tackle these matters head-on, the PigProGrAm brought together a consortium made up of co-product feed specialists Duynie, water-treatment engineers Membracon (UK) Ltd, an established pig farmer in Yorkshire, AHDB and Beta Technology. Results were assessed and independently verified by experts from Leeds University and the AHDB.
How it worked
Three trials were run on one unit to establish a ‘future farm’ model. The key test areas were feed and manure management. That involved replacing 70% of the pigs’ ration with co-product feeds, flushing slurry from housing every 48 hours and using a management system to process the manure.
- Ration optimised using available co-products
- Pigs fed through liquid feeding system
- Slurry flushed every 48 hours
- Liquid and solid fractions separated
- Energy created from the solid's biomass
- Ammonia harvested from the liquor
- Steam used to convert spent liquor into water for crop management
- Residual ash used as soil conditioner
At Duynie we specialise in co-products and encourage farmers to think ‘co-products first’ when making their feed purchasing decisions. Co-products are circular feeds which originate from a wide variety of crops, including cereals, vegetables, and fruits. The primary crop is processed by the food manufacture, where they extract the nutrient, they need. What is left is the co-product. These co-products often have a high nutrient density, which makes them a perfect nutritional choice to include in many livestock rations. Especially in circumstances whereby these quality products are accessible locally, they not only provide valuable nutritional benefits but can significantly reduce the amount of CO2e emissions associated with the farms end product.
In the case of this project, Duynie supplied Potato Puree and Sedagold Syrup, displacing 70% (fresh weight) of the Wheat, Barley and Soya in the original ration.
The PigProGrAm results
At the end of the three-stage trial, several critical successes have been identified, quantified and verified:
- 71% reduction in the pig’s carbon footprint
- 64% of the total carbon reduction attributed to the inclusion co-product feeds
- >30% reduction is exhaust ammonia emissions from the livestock housing
- Sufficient biogas produced to evaporate 100% of the slurry
- 100% of available ammonia harvested from the liquid portion of the manure (The ammonia is stored on site until sold)
- 66% reduction in eutrophication (green algae)
- 56% reduction in soil acidification
Why this is important for farmers?
There are both short-term and long-term benefits that can be drawn from the success of the PigProGrAm.
If the system was widely adopted by livestock farmers, it has the potential to:
- help UK livestock farms to achieve carbon targets on the journey net zero.
- make farmers more attractive to supply chain partners with aligned sustainability goals
- tackle the issue of manure management in a productive manner
- support a circular food system by making use of locally sourced co-products and reducing dependence on ‘other’ more carbon intensive feeds, such as imported soya
- support improved water quality by cutting green algae in rivers, drains and ditches
- Create a resource, aqueous ammonia, which could potentially provide new incomes streams.
Duynie are proud to have been a part of the PigProGrAm and will continue to be a leader in supporting collaboration between key supply chain stakeholders, providing our co-product feed expertise to create a more sustainable livestock farming sector.