The Research
Information about the sources and levels of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock are of increasing interest to policymakers, the industry itself, and consumers.
Recent research undertaken by BFREPA and Promar on this matter used the Eggbase Carbon Footprint Tool to determine the main contributors to farm greenhouse gas emissions. The research project studied two free-range pilot farms; one of which was a multi-deck unit with two sheds of 32,000 hens in each, while the other farm was a flat deck system with 12,700 hens in one shed.
Data was collected, using a data input sheet shared with each producer, based on the most recent completed flock cycle of the farms, and was then annualised to calculate emissions per year. The greenhouse gas emissions for both farms were calculated using the Eggbase carbon footprinting tool.
A Unique Egg and Poultry Tool
Unlike other carbon footprint calculators, the Eggbase tool is egg and poultry specific and offers:
• full transparency and an audit trail
• benchmarking across all flocks
• easy, remote collection of data by packers, retailers, feed suppliers and breeders
• a complete calculation which includes emissions from pullet rearing, for which there is usually no published data available,
and emissions from water and medical supplies
• more accurate emission values for feed, based on Tier II IPCC methodology, which considers the raw ingredients and the source country
Read the report here or click here to discover more about the Eggbase carbon footprint tool.
