Climate change and poultry production

Although scientists are in dissension if global warming is caused by the effect of humans and their footprint on this earth, the matter has an increased concern with consumers and governments. CO2 footprint seems to be the biggest concern. In this article I try to overlook a few reports that have been published, comparing the carbon footprint of different meat types.

1 kg of meat as harmful as driving 1.600 km?

Headlines in newspapers stated “one kilogram of meat as harmful to the climate as diving up to 1.600 kilometers in a car.” This statement has been derived from an Austrian and Dutch study (2011), which concluded that the production of one kg of Brazilian beef produces 335 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2). The carbon footprint of Dutch beef is much lower with 22 kg carbon dioxide per kg of meat.  Good news for poultry producers, as it produces 6.2 kg of CO2 per kg of meat. The results of this research are subject to discussion as it also comprises the area used for production, assuming that natural vegetation doesn’t regrow on these grounds and do not absorb CO2.

Again good news for chicken

The American Environmental Working Group (EWG) produced the Meat Eaters Guide in 2011 with the comparison of several types of meat and their carbon footprint post farmgate and production emissions. The EWG claims on their website to be conservative, if compared to other research. In this comparison lamb meat has the biggest impact, producing 39.2 kg of CO2 per kg of consumed food. Chicken meat has the lowest impact of 6.9 kg CO2 per kg of meat.

Organic production highest footprint

The European website agri-footprint.com (Blonk consultancy) also compares the CO2 footprint of several production types. Several types of production can be overlooked on global warming potential (CO2 output), energy use and land occupation. Poultry production again scores well on all 3 elements. In this calculation the whole production change is overlooked from parent stock until slaughter house. In this calculation 1 kg of chicken meat produces 3.4 kg of CO2.

Even more interesting is the comparison of Blonk for a Dutch bank (see graph below), comparing traditional eggs (eieren) and meat (kippenvlees) with free range and organic (biologisch) products. It seemed that the CO2 footprint of organic chicken meat is much higher (+58%) than traditional meat.

Lowering CO2 emissions on farm level

Especially in broiler production a lot of energy is used in heating the house when day old chicks arrive. Many farms use fossil fuel heaters to achieve the necessary temperatures, but by common climate systems a lot of warm air is ventilated out of the house. With a so called heat exchanger, farmers can recover the heat and warm their fresh incoming air. In this way, there is less need for the heaters to burn. This reduces the CO2 footprint on farm level and improves the climate in the broiler house. An example of a heat exchanger for poultry houses is the Clima+ unit of Agro Supply.

The reason why CO2 footprint of Dutch broiler production is lower then elsewhere in the world (see above research), is perhaps in the fact that farms need to comply to certain regulations for ammonia output. In this way the use of heat exchangers is encouraged and thus lowering the CO2 footprint of broiler production.

My conclusions

All research show that chicken meat has the lowest impact on global warming of all meat types. Due to efficiency and techniques used to reduce the energy needed for production, the Dutch broiler sector knows a very low CO2 output. Organic production seems to have a much higher carbon footprint and thus it can be questioned how sustainable this production type actually is with respect to global warming. With a heat exchanger for poultry houses poultry producers can reduce their footprint.

‘We use free range eggs in our salads’

This week on Dutch TV there is a commercial from the Dutch salad and ready-cooked-meal makers of Johma, announcing that they switched entirely to free range eggs in their salads. Next to this, Johma also decided to replace their chicken meat from traditional broiler chickens to slow growing broilers with 1 star in the ‘Better Life’ system of the Dutch animal welfare organisation.

The commercial shows the village of Losser, where the salads are produced, assuming that it’s now crowded with free ranging hens. The company communicates that their decision makes it possible for 100.000 hens to range outdoors. So, that means they use like 33 million eggs per year. On a yearly turnover of 70 million Euro, that means the purchase of eggs takes only 3% of their total turnover. The decision to purchase free range eggs will cost the company an additional 500.000 Euro per year, with current price difference between barn and free range eggs of 1,50 Eurocent per egg in the Netherlands.

Actually it’s interesting to see how only one ingredient gets all the marketing attention in this tv commercial. Johma, having 26 types of salads and many other products, uses eggs in only 6 of their salads… The decision to step away from cage eggs to barn eggs is driven by the force of animal welfare groups. But why spend another 500k to go to free range? The company uses the ingredient ‘egg’ to show to their consumers they are a step ahead in sustainable food and thus creating a sustainable brand value.

I guess the marketers of Johma calculated that the improved brand value of using free range eggs, is much bigger than the 500k extra purchase costs. Remarkably, Johma is not the only brand that takes this step. Even a supermarket in the Netherlands, Plus supermarkets, decided not to sell barn eggs anymore, but only free range eggs.

In the mean time the industry is grumbling… farmers are still trying to convince everybody to stick to indoor systems, because of food safety, animal health, efficient production, reduced ammonia output, etc etc. My advice to those who are still trying to convince buyers and consumers to buy traditional indoor eggs; look ahead and adapt new production methods! With the knowledge we have today it is very well possible to manage free ranging birds.

As an example, I would recommend to see this video interview we made with a customer of Vencomatic in the UK, producing free range eggs: Free range egg production in Scotland

Food vs Fuel

Recently I ran in to this comparison; did you know there is a relation between food and oil prices? The food costs are indicated by the FAO food index. Just see how the peak in oil prices in 2008 and 2011 lead to direct increase in food prices.This actually shows the need to change our production methods in a more sustainable way.

If we realise that we are using our globe’s natural resources like oil in an increasing speed. With developing countries now using more and more oil, the globe will just be running out of supplies. Some scientists actually expect that in 2030 we will encounter the peak-oil period, where we will just not be able to source enough oil in comparison to what we use. So if the oil prices rise… what will happen to feed prices?

For poultry farmers, this will mean that feed prices will only go up. It will be a challenge to source feed nearby the farm, not importing feed from the other side of the world, as transport will be more expansive in the future. To my opinion, this will be the side of sustainability, where we will be talking about in 5 years time.

Did you know?

My first blog post! This blog will be devoted to the challenges poultrymeat and egg producers are facing in the future. To my believe, sustainable production is not just an option, its the new reality! Even in developping countries, poultry producers should look at aspects of sustainability, as we will all be facing the same problems; growing population, increasing consumption per capita, highly volatile feed prices and critical customers that will put force on production methods.

The video DID YOU KNOW shows some ideas we have in the Venco Groep about sustainability.