Life Cycle Assessment across the Food Supply Chain

The environmental impact is one of the major pillars of concerns when addressing the sustainability of food production and sustainable food consumption strategies. To assess to what extent food production affects the environment, one needs to choose a proper environmental assessment tool. Different types of assessment tools have been developed to establish environmental indicators, which can be used to determine the environmental impact of livestock production systems or agricultural products. The environmen¬tal assessment tools can be divided into the area based or product based (Halberg et al., 2005). Area-based indicators are, for example, nitrate leached per hectare from a pig farm, and product-based indicators are, for example, global warming potential per kg pork (Dalgaard, 2007). The area-based indicators are useful for evaluating farm emissions of nutrients such as nitrate that has an effect on the local environment. On the other hand, when considering the greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural production, the product-based indicators are useful for evaluating the impact of food productions on the global environment (e. g., climate change) and have the advantage that in addition to emis-sions from the farms, emissions related to the production of input s (e.g., soybean and artificial fertilizer) and outputs (e.g., slurry exported to other farms) are also included. In that way it is easier to avoid pollution swapping, which means that the solving of one pollution problem creates a new (Dalgaard, 2007)

Comparative environmental assessment of three systems for organic pig production in Denmark

Organic pig production has emerged as an alternative to the intensive conventional pig production in Europe with the animals confined indoors and often an imbalance between livestock and land for feed production and manure utilisation. The organic systems aim at improving animal welfare by supporting the pig’s natural behaviour (Hermansen et al., 2003), and improving soil fertility by better linking crop and livestock production from an agro-ecological point of view. The differences between organic and conventional pig production is more fundamental than for example differences between dairy production systems, which may be why the share of pig herds within the organic holdings is considerably lower than the percentage of pig herds in conventional agriculture in both the UK (ADAS, 2001), Germany (Willer, et al., 2002) and Denmark (Plant Directorate, 2004b). However, the recent development has seen a dramatic increase in demand for organic pig meat in Denmark, Germany and the UK and present production cannot meet demand. Besides regulation on use of feedstuffs, the organic pig production has a main challenge in the regulation for housing. The sows need access to grazing in the summer time, and growing pigs need as a minimum requirement access to an outdoor run. In addition, the area requirements for indoor housing are higher than for conventional production. These requirements have a major impact on what systems to consider, both from economical and agro-ecological points of view. And therefore, efforts to improve organic pig production should focus on the integration of livestock production and land use, but considering environmental impacts on local and global scales. The most commonly used system in Denmark is to combine an outdoor sow production all year round with rearing growing pigs in barns with an outdoor run (Hermansen & Jakobsen, 2004). The type of stable most commonly used by full time producers in Denmark is a system with deep litter in the entire indoor area or deep litter/straw bed in half the area while the outdoor area consists of a concrete area. The use of a concrete covered area, from which the manure can be collected, is a way to comply with the environmental regulations stating that the outdoor run should be constructed in a way that prevents leaching. Research shows that very good production results can be obtained in such systems in terms of litter size, daily gain, feed consumption and health (Hermansen et al., 2003). However, two possible drawbacks exist. First, the space requirement per growing pig in housing facilities is considerable and, thus, capital demanding. For fattening pigs of 85-100 kg live weight, the indoor space required is equivalent to 1.3 m2/pig (of which at least 0.65 m2 must consists of a solid floor) and 1.0 m2 outdoors run (Council Regulation, 1999). In addition, each lying zone, i.e. straw bedding area, must be able to accommodate all pigs at a time. This put a heavy burden on costs of buildings (money and resource use) and at the same time it can be questioned if such rearing systems comply with the consumer expectations. Second, the outdoor sow production has been connected with high environmental burden in the form of N losses (Larsen et al., 2000; Eriksen et al., 2002). This made us to consider two alternatives to the organic pic system most often used presently. A system where all pigs were reared outdoors on grassland (and saving buildings) and a system where sows and growing pigs were kept in a tent system placed upon a deep litter area in order to reduce risk for N leaching. Both have been used under commercial conditions. In order to assess the possible trade-offs between environmental impacts on the one hand and the assumed advantages of these alternative systems (animal welfare, low investment) on the other hand an Environmental Impact Assessment was needed. Environmental assessment of livestock farming systems can be done on an area basis (e.g. nutrient losses per ha) or on a product basis (e.g. Green House Gas emission per kg meat or milk; Haas et al., 2001; van der Werf & Petit, 2002; De Boer, 2003; Halberg et al., 2005). The area based assessment is relevant for locally important emissions such as nitrate leaching but a product based assessment is more relevant for emissions, which have a less localised impact (acidification) or even a global character (Green House Gasses). Moreover, since the organic production is often considered a more sustainable alternative to conventional intensive pig production, from a consumer point of view it might be interesting to compare the eutrophication per kg meat produced from different organic and compared to conventional systems. The objective of this paper is to compare the environmental impact and green house gas emission of organic pig production systems with different levels of integration of livestock and land use

Kvælstofregnskaber på husdyrbrug

At begrænse tabet af nærringsstoffer til det omgivende miljø indgår som en del af mange landmænds mål for god driftledelse. Det er vanskeligt at måle eller beregne det faktiske tab af kvælstof fra husdyrbedrifter, og der findes endnu ingen modeller, som kan beregne de enkelte tabsposter rimeligt præcist og samtidigt redegør for den samlede omsætning af kvælstof (N) på bedriften. Separate opgørelser af udnyttelse og tab af N fra enten besætning eller marker giver et mangelfuldt billede af bedriftens reelle udnyttelse af N. Derimod kan en beregning af en husdyrbedrifts samlede omsætning og overskud af N give et godt udtryk for det potentielle N-tab til det omgivende miljø. Ved DJF er der i flere år udført analyser af N-omsætningen og N-udnyttelse i forskellige typer husdyrbrug gennem en kombination af studier i private bedrifter og modellering. Det er også undersøgt hvilke muligheder, driftslederen har for at påvirke bedriftens N-overskud, og hvordan sådanne N-regnskaber kan indgå i styringen af bedriften. Denne Grøn Viden beskriver N-regnskaber for 3 bedrifter som eksempler på metodens anvendelse og diskuterer resultater fra samarbejde med 20 bedrifter

Impact of organic pig production systems on CO2 emission, C sequestration and nitrate pollution

Organic rules for grazing and access to outdoor area in pig production may be met in different ways, which express compromises between considerations for animal welfare, feed self-reliance and negative environmental impact such as greeehouse gas emissions and nitrate pollution. This article compares environmental impact of the main organic pig systems in Denmark. Normally sows are kept in huts on grassland and finishing pigs are being raised in stables with access to an outdoor run. One alternative practised is rearing also the fattening pigs on grassland all year round. The third method investigated was a one-unit pen system mainly consisting of a deep litter area under a climate tent and with restricted access to a grazing area. Using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, the emissions of greenhouse gasses of the all free range system was estimated to be 3.3 kg CO2-equivalents kg-1 liveweight pig, which was significantly higher than the indoor fattening system and the tent system yeilding 2.9 and 2.8 kg CO2-eq. kg-1 pig respectively. This was 7-22% higher compared with Danish conventional pig production but, due to the integration of grass-clover in the organic crop rotations these had an estimated net soil carbon sequestration. When carbon sequestration was included in the LCA then the organic systems had lower green house gas emissions compared with the conventional pig production. Eutrophication in nitrate equivalents per kg pig was 21-65% higher in the organic pig systems and acidification was 35-45% higher per kg organic pig compared with the conventional system. We conclude that even though the all free range system theoretically has agro-ecological advantages over the indoor fattening system and the tent system due to a larger grass-clover area this potential is difficult to implement in practice due to problems with leaching on sandy soil. Only if forage can contribute a larger proportion of the pigfeed-uptake may the free range system be economically and environmentally competitive. Improvement of nitrogen cycling and efficiency is the most important factor for reducing the overall environmental load from organic pig meat. Presently a system with pig fattening in stables and concrete covered outdoor runs seems to be the best solution from an environmental point of view

Differential transendothelial transport of adiponectin complexes

BACKGROUND: Adiponectin’s effects on systemic physiology and cell-specific responses are well-defined, but little is known about how this insulin-sensitizing and anti-inflammatory adipokine reaches its target cells. All molecules face active and passive transport limitations, but adiponectin is particularly noteworthy due to the diverse size range and high molecular weights of its oligomers. Additionally, its metabolic target organs possess a range of endothelial permeability. METHODS: Full-length recombinant murine adiponectin was produced and oligomer fractions isolated by gel filtration. Adiponectin complex sizes were measured by dynamic light scattering to determine Stokes radii. Transendothelial transport of purified oligomers was quantitatively assessed under a number of different conditions in vitro using murine endothelial cells and in vivo using several mouse models of altered endothelial function. RESULTS: Adiponectin oligomers exhibit large transport radii that limit transendothelial transport. Oligomerization is a significant determinant of flux across endothelial monolayers in vitro; low molecular weight adiponectin is preferentially transported. In vivo sampled sera from the heart, liver, and tail vein demonstrated significantly different complex distribution of lower molecular weight oligomers. Pharmacological interventions, such as PPARγ agonist treatment, differentially affect adiponectin plasma clearance and tissue uptake. Exercise induces enhanced adiponectin uptake to oxidative skeletal muscles, wherein adiponectin potently lowers ceramide levels. In total, endothelial barriers control adiponectin transport in a cell- and tissue-specific manner. CONCLUSIONS: Adiponectin oligomer efficacy in a given tissue may therefore be endothelial transport mediated. Targeting endothelial dysfunction in the metabolic syndrome through exercise and pharmaceuticals may afford an effective approach to increasing adiponectin’s beneficial effects

Nonlinear Supersymmetry as a Hidden Symmetry

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TonEBP suppresses adipogenesis and insulin sensitivity by blocking epigenetic transition of PPAR gamma 2

TonEBP is a key transcription factor in cellular adaptation to hypertonic stress, and also in macrophage activation. Since TonEBP is involved in inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and atherosclerosis, we asked whether TonEBP played a role in adipogenesis and insulin resistance. Here we report that TonEBP suppresses adipogenesis and insulin signaling by inhibiting expression of the key transcription factor PPAR gamma 2. TonEBP binds to the PPAR gamma 2 promoter and blocks the epigenetic transition of the locus which is required for the activation of the promoter. When TonEBP expression is reduced, the epigenetic transition and PPAR gamma 2 expression are markedly increased leading to enhanced adipogenesis and insulin response while inflammation is reduced. Thus, TonEBP is an independent determinant of adipose insulin sensitivity and inflammation. TonEBP is an attractive therapeutic target for insulin resistance in lieu of PPAR gamma agonistsopen0