By Claudia S. Dunkley, Ph.D. Extension Poultry Scientist
The poultry industry is a major part of the agricultural industry in the United States, and an awareness of the carbon footprint of the industry is important for future growth and development. Changes in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be achieved only if the industry knows the levels of GHG emissions contributed as a result of poultry production. While several life-cycle assessments have been completed for the production of poultry meat, there is no industry specific carbon footprint calculation tool available for the production phase of the poultry industry, Since the poultry farmer only has control over the activities that take place on his farm, he can only make reductions of emissions at the farm-gate level.
The specific objectives of this study were:
- To develop a computer-based, user-friendly calculation tool to assess GHG emissions from poultry farms.
- Identify abatement strategies in on-farm management practices to reduce the footprint on farms.
The calculation tool was developed and used to estimate the emissions from 30 test farms from three poultry companies in three different regions in Georgia. The research included an assessment of the carbon footprint of test farms under industry management standards with focus placed on management practices and farm-expense data, particularly with regard to expenditures for energy-intensive inputs such as electricity and fuel, which are the largest contributors to GHG emissions for poultry farms. This was used to identify potential areas of change.
We observed that the major sources of greenhouse gas that are emitted on poultry production farms were from gas use and manure management. Based on these observations, the tool is equipped to recommend improvements to the farm that will in turn show the potential reductions in GHG emissions and cost savings if recommended improvements are implemented.
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