Sustainability of Swine Breeding: Future Challenges and Opportunities

The swine sector must address the challenge of climate change, reduce its environ-mental footprint and ensure sustainable production. In this regard, the availability of quality pork from more sustainable intensive breeding farms provides an oppor-tunity to respond to a renewed awareness of swine breeding among consumers. The chapter analyses, through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis, the environmen-tal impacts generated by the value chain of pork production and, more in detail, the swine farming system in terms of greenhouse gases, ammonia, and volatile sub-stances in general emitted from crop production, animal husbandry, and manure management. In particular, aspects that affect the environmental performance of the swine system will be examined: genetics, nutrition, crop production, breeding sys-tems, housing, applied technologies, and manure management. The best available techniques for heavy and light swine production to reduce this livestock sector's environmental impact will also be investigated through increased feed conversion efficiency, reduction of losses, waste, and inefficient animals with a direct effect on greenhouse gas emissions and volatile substances.