Tool will Reduce Environmental Impact of Pork Production

A new tool is being created by University of Arkansas researchers and their colleagues at Purdue University and Virginia Tech to help hog farmers increase productivity, decrease costs of production and minimize the environmental impact of swine production in the United States. With 5-million dollars in funding from USDA, the multi-disciplinary team is developing an integrated management tool for swine production based on a comprehensive analysis of the many processes that comprise swine production.

Greg Thoma, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Arkansas, says – a primary purpose of this work is to evaluate and mitigate the environmental footprint of swine-production facilities. We want to know – what action we can take to limit greenhouse-gas emissions from these facilities without making processes more expensive for the farmer. And, we want to enable farmers to make informed decisions about changes to production. Thoma says – to do this, we must understand the entire system or full life cycle of swine production in this country.

By- Andy Eubank
Source-hoosieragtoday