Sustainably produced ABF Rypsiporsas

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Ambassador: Matti Ropilo, Finland

Publication date: July 2020 | Theme: Precision production

Challenges: Increasing overall farm sustainability

The calculated carbon footprint (CF) using Rypsiporsas on this farm is lower than that of pigs raised in other parts of Europe with feed containing soybean meal.

To calculate the carbon footprint, this farmer, Matti Ropilo, uses the Biocode tool, which is based on ISO-standards and IPCC-recommendations.

Results

Benefits:

2.5 kg CO2eq /live-weight kg during 2019
In comparison: the 2017 CF is on average 3.3 kg CO2eq /live-weight kg (in other Rypsiporsas farms)
Reduction in CF of 24%
35% reduction in purchased protein, saving approx. 20,000 euros/year
Key production KPIs remain consistent: feeding days 96/97 from 2017 – 2020
ADG has increased slightly from 874g/day in 2017 – 892g/day in 2019 and so far in 2020

Based on these assumptions, variable production costs after implementation of best-practice decreased by 7.4% per kg of meat, mainly due to lower feeding costs (by 8.8%), vet+med costs (by 7%) and energy costs (by 17%). On the other hand, an increase was observed in the case of fixed costs of depreciation 3,6% per kg, as a result of investments. In total, the entire costs of meat production were 5.1% lower as per kg of meat.

Costs:

Two storage tanks, one for oatmeal based protein food and one for rapeseed oil, cost about 15,000 euros.
Solar panel installation cost 18,000 euros for a 16kW system with an ROI of 11 years

Innovation in practice

Locally produced rapeseed meal is used as a substitute for soy meal as part of a carefully calculated ration. This removes imported soy meal from the diet which, due to the high CF of transport, lowers the overall CF of the feed and pigs. This intervention is also supported by:

The farm uses solar panels to increase energy production;
Foodstuffs make the biggest share of the farm’s footprint, so they participate in a project to optimize the input/output-ratio of feed;
The project studies conservation agriculture in terms of fertilization and soil cultivation methods;
Effects of conservation agriculture on greenhouse gas emissions is shown by several studies, and it also reduces the risk of soil runoff.