IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agisys/v98y2008i2p67-73.html

Environmental performance in the US broiler poultry sector: Life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas, ozone depleting, acidifying and eutrophying emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Pelletier, N.

Abstract

Most published research concerning the environmental impacts of broiler poultry production is limited to assessments of on-farm gaseous and nutrient emissions. Here, ISO-compliant Life Cycle Assessment was used to predict the broader, macroscale environmental impacts of the material and energy inputs and emissions along the US broiler supply chain. It was found that feed provision accounts for 80% of supply chain energy use, 82% of greenhouse gas emissions, 98% of ozone depleting emissions, 96% of acidifying emissions and 97% of eutrophying emissions associated with the cradle-to-farm gate production of broiler poultry. On-farm inputs and emissions, largely related to heating and ventilation contribute on average only 9% of these impacts. These results underscore the fallacy of "landless farming" and the importance of full supply-chain environmental management for improving sustainability in the US poultry industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Pelletier, N., 2008. "Environmental performance in the US broiler poultry sector: Life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas, ozone depleting, acidifying and eutrophying emissions," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 67-73, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:98:y:2008:i:2:p:67-73
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308-521X(08)00040-1
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Courbois, Claude & Delgado, Christopher L. & Ehui, Simeon K. & Rosegrant, Mark W. & Steinfeld, Henning, 1999. "Livestock to 2020: the next food revolution," 2020 vision briefs 61, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Casey, J.W. & Holden, N.M., 2005. "Analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from the average Irish milk production system," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 97-114, October.
    3. Casey, J.W. & Holden, N.M., 2006. "Quantification of GHG emissions from sucker-beef production in Ireland," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 90(1-3), pages 79-98, October.
    4. Goodland, Robert, 1997. "Environmental sustainability in agriculture: diet matters," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 189-200, December.
    5. Delgado, Christopher L. & Rosegrant, Mark W. & Steinfeld, Henning & Ehui, Simeon K. & Courbois, Claude B., 1999. "Livestock to 2020: The Next Food Revolution," Food, Agriculture and the Environment Discussion Papers 42276, CGIAR, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Thomassen, M.A. & van Calker, K.J. & Smits, M.C.J. & Iepema, G.L. & de Boer, I.J.M., 2008. "Life cycle assessment of conventional and organic milk production in the Netherlands," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 96(1-3), pages 95-107, March.
    7. Carlsson-Kanyama, Annika, 1998. "Climate change and dietary choices -- how can emissions of greenhouse gases from food consumption be reduced?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(3-4), pages 277-293, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Raymond L. Desjardins & Devon E. Worth & Xavier P. C. Vergé & Dominique Maxime & Jim Dyer & Darrel Cerkowniak, 2012. "Carbon Footprint of Beef Cattle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(12), pages 1-23, December.
    2. Akifumi Ogino & Kazato Oishi & Akira Setoguchi & Takashi Osada, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of Sustainable Broiler Production Systems: Effects of Low-Protein Diet and Litter Incineration," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-14, September.
    3. Nigel Key & Gregoire Tallard, 2012. "Mitigating methane emissions from livestock: a global analysis of sectoral policies," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 112(2), pages 387-414, May.
    4. Leinonen, Ilkka & Williams, Adrian G. & Waller, Anthony H. & Kyriazakis, Ilias, 2013. "Comparing the environmental impacts of alternative protein crops in poultry diets: The consequences of uncertainty," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 33-42.
    5. Hoffman, Eric & Cavigelli, Michel A. & Camargo, Gustavo & Ryan, Matthew & Ackroyd, Victoria J. & Richard, Tom L. & Mirsky, Steven, 2018. "Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in organic and conventional grain crop production: Accounting for nutrient inflows," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 89-96.
    6. Shaoran Geng & Kevin Christopher Dorling & Tobias Manuel Prenzel & Stefan Albrecht, 2024. "Grill and Chill: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Environmental Impacts of Private Household Barbecuing in Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-27, January.
    7. Jhuma Sadhukhan & Tom I. J. Dugmore & Avtar Matharu & Elias Martinez-Hernandez & Jorge Aburto & Pattanathu K. S. M. Rahman & Jim Lynch, 2020. "Perspectives on “Game Changer” Global Challenges for Sustainable 21st Century: Plant-Based Diet, Unavoidable Food Waste Biorefining, and Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, March.
    8. Grzegorz Nawalany & Miroslav Zitnak & Małgorzata Michalik & Jana Lendelova & Paweł Sokołowski, 2024. "Impact of the Location and Energy Carriers Used on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Building," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-26, September.
    9. Elżbieta Jadwiga Szymańska & Robert Mroczek, 2023. "Energy Intensity of Food Industry Production in Poland in the Process of Energy Transformation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-24, February.
    10. Eva Polyak & Zita Breitenbach & Eszter Frank & Olivia Mate & Maria Figler & Dorottya Zsalig & Klara Simon & Mate Szijarto & Zoltan Szabo, 2023. "Food and Sustainability: Is It a Matter of Choice?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, April.
    11. Souhil Harchaoui & Petros Chatzimpiros, 2018. "Energy, Nitrogen, and Farm Surplus Transitions in Agriculture from Historical Data Modeling. France, 1882–2013," Post-Print hal-02999180, HAL.
    12. Mainali, Brijesh & Emran, Saad Been & Silveira, Semida, 2017. "Greenhouse gas mitigation using poultry litter management techniques in Bangladesh," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 155-166.
    13. Ma, Qiuzhuo & Paudel, Krishna P. & Cui, Luqi, 2018. "A multi-objective optimization problem for using poultry litter in electricity production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1220-1242.
    14. Marco Remondino & Luigi Valdenassi, 2018. "Different Uses of Ozone: Environmental and Corporate Sustainability. Literature Review and Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-18, December.
    15. Zifei Liu & Yang Liu, 2018. "Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from animal production," Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 8(4), pages 627-638, August.
    16. Payandeh, Z. & Kheiralipour, K. & Karimi, M. & Khoshnevisan, B., 2017. "Joint data envelopment analysis and life cycle assessment for environmental impact reduction in broiler production systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 768-774.
    17. Pelletier, Nathan & Pirog, Rich & Rasmussen, Rebecca, 2010. "Comparative life cycle environmental impacts of three beef production strategies in the Upper Midwestern United States," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(6), pages 380-389, July.
    18. Tallentire, C.W. & Mackenzie, S.G. & Kyriazakis, I., 2017. "Environmental impact trade-offs in diet formulation for broiler production systems in the UK and USA," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 145-156.
    19. Alejandro Fontana & Ignacio De los Ríos Carmenado & Johan Villanueva-Penedo & José Ulloa-Salazar & Denisse Santander-Peralta, 2018. "Strategy for the Sustainability of a Food Production System for the Prosperity of Low-Income Populations in an Emerging Country: Twenty Years of Experience of the Peruvian Poultry Association," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-18, November.
    20. Putman, Ben & Thoma, Greg & Burek, Jasmina & Matlock, Marty, 2017. "A retrospective analysis of the United States poultry industry: 1965 compared with 2010," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 107-117.
    21. Bartłomiej Bajan & Joanna Łukasiewicz & Agnieszka Poczta-Wajda & Walenty Poczta, 2021. "Edible Energy Production and Energy Return on Investment—Long-Term Analysis of Global Changes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-16, February.
    22. Pelletier, N. & Lammers, P. & Stender, D. & Pirog, R., 2010. "Life cycle assessment of high- and low-profitability commodity and deep-bedded niche swine production systems in the Upper Midwestern United States," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(9), pages 599-608, November.
    23. Yi Liang & Michael Janorschke & Chad E. Hayes, 2022. "Low-Cost Solar Collectors to Pre-Heat Ventilation Air in Broiler Houses," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-9, February.
    24. White, Robin R., 2016. "Increasing energy and protein use efficiency improves opportunities to decrease land use, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions from dairy production," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 20-29.
    25. Foivos Zisis & Elisavet Giamouri & Christina Mitsiopoulou & Christos Christodoulou & Charalampos Kamilaris & Alexandros Mavrommatis & Athanasios C. Pappas & Eleni Tsiplakou, 2023. "An Overview of Poultry Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Mediterranean Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-19, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bowles, Nicholas & Alexander, Samuel & Hadjikakou, Michalis, 2019. "The livestock sector and planetary boundaries: A ‘limits to growth’ perspective with dietary implications," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 128-136.
    2. Pelletier, Nathan & Pirog, Rich & Rasmussen, Rebecca, 2010. "Comparative life cycle environmental impacts of three beef production strategies in the Upper Midwestern United States," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(6), pages 380-389, July.
    3. Gómez, Miguel I. & Ricketts, Katie D., 2013. "Food value chain transformations in developing countries: Selected hypotheses on nutritional implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 139-150.
    4. Olson, Kent & Gauto, Victor & Erenstein, Olaf & Teufel, Nils & Swain, Braja & Tui, Sabine Homann-Kee & Duncan, Alan, 2021. "Estimating Farmers’ Internal Value of Crop Residues in Smallholder Crop-Livestock Systems: A South Asia Case Study," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315188, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Yu, Wusheng & Hertel, Thomas W. & Preckel, Paul V. & Eales, James S., 2004. "Projecting world food demand using alternative demand systems," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 99-129, January.
    6. Mohammed H. Alemu & Søren Bøye Olsen & Suzanne E. Vedel & John Kinyuru & Kennedy O. Pambo, 2016. "Integrating sensory evaluations in incentivized discrete choice experiments to assess consumer demand for cricket flour buns in Kenya," IFRO Working Paper 2016/02, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    7. Leakey, Roger & Kranjac-Berisavljevic, Gordana & Caron, Patrick & Craufurd, Peter & Martin, Adrienne M. & McDonald, Andy & Abedini, Walter & Afiff, Suraya & Bakurin, Ndey & Bass, Steve & Hilbeck, Ange, 2009. "Impacts of AKST on development and sustainability goals," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    8. Popkin, Barry M. & Horton, Susan & Kim, Soowon, 2001. "The Nutritional Transition And Diet-Related Chronic Diseases In Asia: Implications For Prevention," FCND Discussion Papers 16447, CGIAR, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Ludena, Carlos E., 2004. "Impact Of Productivity Growth In Crops And Livestock On World Food Trade Patterns," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20366, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    10. Allan Rae & Anna Strutt, 2001. "Livestock production and the environment: Some impacts of growth and trade liberalisation," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 176-194.
    11. Raymond L. Desjardins & Devon E. Worth & Xavier P. C. Vergé & Dominique Maxime & Jim Dyer & Darrel Cerkowniak, 2012. "Carbon Footprint of Beef Cattle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(12), pages 1-23, December.
    12. Ibrahim Hassen Worku & Mekdim Dereje & Bart Minten & Kalle Hirvonen, 2017. "Diet transformation in Africa: the case of Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(S1), pages 73-86, November.
    13. Thomassen, M.A. & Dolman, M.A. & van Calker, K.J. & de Boer, I.J.M., 2009. "Relating life cycle assessment indicators to gross value added for Dutch dairy farms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2278-2284, June.
    14. S., Sujatha & Bhat, Ravi, 2015. "Resource use and benefits of mixed farming approach in arecanut ecosystem in India," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 126-137.
    15. Devendra, C., 2002. "Crop-animal systems in Asia: future perspectives," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 71(1-2), pages 179-186.
    16. Rae, Allan N., 2001. "Trade In Livestock Products And The Wto Millenium Round: Projections To 2005 And Problems With Trq'S," 2001: International Trade in Livestock Products Symposium, January 2001, Auckland, New Zealand 14564, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    17. Mark Moritz & Britney R. Kyle & Kevin C. Nolan & Steve Patrick & Marnie F. Shaffer & Gayatri Thampy, 2009. "Too Many People and Too Few Livestock in West Africa? An Evaluation of Sandford's Thesis," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(7), pages 1113-1133, August.
    18. Wood, Richard & Lenzen, Manfred & Dey, Christopher & Lundie, Sven, 2006. "A comparative study of some environmental impacts of conventional and organic farming in Australia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 89(2-3), pages 324-348, September.
    19. Tollens, Eric & Demont, Matty & Swennen, Rony, 2003. "Agrobiotechnology In Developing Countries: North-South Partnerships Are A Key," Working Papers 31837, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centre for Agricultural and Food Economics.
    20. Pingali, Prabhu, 2007. "Westernization of Asian diets and the transformation of food systems: Implications for research and policy," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 281-298, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:98:y:2008:i:2:p:67-73. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agsy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.