Modelling the interactions between regional farming structure, nitrogen losses and environmental regulation

Changes in the structure of agriculture are known to affect emissions of environmental pollutants from agriculture. Such changes are often driven by structural changes in agricultural production, so structural changes are likely to have indirect effects on emissions. In a pilot study, we consider how linking two complementary simulation models might be used to explore these effects. The agent-based AgriPoliS model was used to simulate the structural dynamics of agricultural production. The results from AgriPoliS were passed via a number of intermediate models to the Farm-N model, which was used to estimate the nitrogen surplus and losses from each farm for each year.The modelling complex was exercised by simulating the effects of two plausible policy scenarios for each of 14 years. The initial sizes and types of farms were based on statistics from a region in Denmark and the farms were randomly distributed within this region. The reference scenario (REF) implemented the current area-based Common Agricultural Policy payments for Denmark. The 1 LU scenario applied the additional constraint that a minimum area of 1 ha land had to be available for the application of the manure produced by one livestock unit.Substantial changes in the structure of agricultural production were shown for both scenarios. The effect on the regional nitrogen surpluses was predicted to differ between scenarios and the contribution of the different farm types to change with time. Predicted ammonia emission changed with time and differed between the scenarios, whereas the Danish fertiliser and manure legislation meant that nitrate leaching remained fairly stable.The implementation of additional environmental legislation significantly changed the trajectory of structural adjustment processes. Results emphasize the complex interplay between structural changes, losses of nitrogen, and environmental regulation.It is concluded that the effects of structural change on environmental emissions can be usefully explored by linking agent-based models of farmers’ investment decisions with other models describing nutrient losses from the farm and that such modelling can play a useful role in designing effective environmental policies for agriculture. However, the approach demands the availability or collection of many region-specific data and this could create a barrier to its use.     

A comparative study of some environmental impacts of conventional and organic farming in Australia

The provision of food causes environmental impacts that range from local through to global in scale. Organic farming, used in general here to mean farming practices with a greater emphasis on long-term sustainability, is one general approach to reduce these impacts. Whilst organic farming may be argued to be superior to conventional farming on the basis of local impacts, it is not often clear how organic farming performs relative to conventional farming in terms of wider, global impacts. In this paper we present a comparative assessment of on-farm and indirect energy consumption, land disturbance, water use, employment, and emissions of greenhouse gases, NO_x, and SO₂ of organic and conventional farming in Australia. A hybrid input-output-based life-cycle technique is employed in order to ensure a complete coverage of indirect requirements originating from all upstream production stages. Using data from a detailed survey of organic farms, the results show that direct energy use, energy related emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions are higher for the organic farming sample than for a comparable conventional farm sample. Direct water use and employment are significantly lower for the organic farms than for the conventional farms. However, the indirect contributions for all factors are much higher for the conventional farms, leading to their total impacts being substantially higher. This shows that indirect effects must be taken into account in the consideration of the environmental consequences of farming, in particular for energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, where the majority of impacts usually occur off-farm. Subject to yield uncertainties for organic versus conventional farming, from the sample here we can conclude that in addition to their local benefits, organic farming approaches can reduce the total water, energy and greenhouse gases involved in food production.     

Modelling community interactions and social capital dynamics: The case of regional and rural communities of Australia

Tension between dominant urban political and economic centres and associated rural communities continues despite various programs to decentralisation. This phenomenon is often explained in terms of a core-periphery political economy. To generate complementary explanatory hypotheses from a social perspective, we examine the impacts of rural–urban community interactions on the development of social norms such as the strength of mutual cooperation. We explore this using deliberately abstracted models of the “Iterated Prisoners’ Dilemma” to represent intra- and inter-community interactions, in regionalised and centralised interaction arrangements. We have considered changes in mutual cooperation as an indicator of social capital dynamics. In our model, increasing interaction of rural communities with urban centres increases “non-cooperative” behaviour of members of the small rural communities. Moreover, as the strength of centralisation (the proportion of interaction between each rural community and the urban centre as compared with the interaction among rural communities) increases, cooperative behaviour among the members of smaller rural communities and mutual cooperation with individuals of larger urban centre decreases. Our hypothesis is that interaction with urban centres disrupts norms used in resolving local social dilemmas. If so, this partly explains the dissatisfaction expressed in rural–urban relations, which may be a fundamental emergent property of particular settlement patterns. Understanding these relationships could guide better policies to facilitate rural–urban interactions in the worldwide trend towards regionalism.     

Modelling the impacts of group ranch subdivision on agro-pastoral households in Kajiado,Kenya

Pastoral communities in East Africa are facing considerable challenges arising from shifts in land tenure policy from communal to individual landholdings and high human population growth rates. Over the last 30 years, livestock-to-human ratios have generally declined to levels that will no longer support pure pastoralism. Many Maasai have thus diversified into cultivation, wage labour, and small businesses. Livelihood expectations are rising, with concomitant increases in the need for cash. We describe the modification of PHEWS, a simple rule-based model that tracks cash flow and calories in agro-pastoral households. We use it, coupled to Savanna, a sophisticated ecosystem model, to quantify some of the effects of subdivision and land fragmentation on household livestock numbers and on food security. For the group ranches simulated, model outputs indicate that subdivision results in substantial reductions in livestock numbers, partially because households have to sell more animals to generate the cash needed, with serious long-term consequences on herd sizes and food security. If subdivision occurs, even to parcels as large as 196 km², livelihood strategies may need to be modified to maintain current levels of household well-being. Model results have been discussed in community meetings in southern Kajiado, but more work is needed on communication mechanisms to utilise more effectively the results of imperfect but useful integrated assessments of complex problems concerning land use and human well-being.     

Modelling seawater intrusion in the Burdekin Delta Irrigation Area,North Queensland,Australia

The Burdekin Delta is a major irrigation area situated in the dry tropics of North Queensland. It is unique in that (i) it overlies shallow groundwater systems that serve as a major water supply for the irrigation of sugarcane, and (ii) it is adjacent to the world heritage listed Great Barrier Reef. Water management practices include large recharge pits and surface spreading of water to assist with replenishment of the groundwater. This has been useful in maintaining groundwater levels to help control seawater intrusion. This technique, however, can be costly and ineffective in unconfined aquifer systems, which are subjected to large amounts of groundwater pumping for irrigation. There are more than 1800 production bores currently used for irrigation in the Burdekin Delta and the large volumes of water extracted have at times lowered the regional water tables and made it difficult to control seawater intrusion.     

Multicriteria fractional model for feed formulation: economic,nutritional and environmental criteria

The traditionally used linear programming model for feed formulation has sought the least-cost combination of ingredients that satisfies a specific level of nutritional requirements. Together with the search for the lowest possible cost, other aspects such as maximising diet efficiency in relation to proposed production objectives and minimising any excess that may lead to unacceptable damage to the environment, are other factors that are gaining in importance in the world of animal nutrition. Taking into account all these factors forces us not only to bear in mind the individual concentrations of each of the nutrients in the feed but also the ratios of these with other nutrients.In this work we show how a multi-objective fractional programming model is better adapted to current needs in feed design than the traditionally used least cost linear model. We also show how the model can be solved using the interactive multi-goal programming method with existing linear optimisation software.     

Modelling the fate of water and nitrogen in the mixed vegetable farming systems of northern Tasmania, Australia

A combination of high input management systems, high annual rainfall and deep, permeable soils in northern Tasmania create conditions that are conducive to high drainage and nitrogen losses below the root zone. An understanding of the extent and mechanism of such losses will enable farm managers and their consultants to identify and implement more sustainable management practices that minimise potential adverse financial and environmental consequences. Analysing the fate of water and nutrients in farming systems is complex and influenced by a wide range of factors including management, soil characteristics, seasonal climate variability and management history of the paddock/farm in question. This paper describes a novel farm system modelling approach based on the model APSIM, for analysing the fate of nitrogen and water in mixed vegetable-based farming enterprises. The study was based on seven case farms across the Panatana catchment in northern Tasmania. Substantial simulated drainage losses (>100 mm average seasonal loss) were apparent for all crop and rotation elements across all farms in response to the surplus between crop water supply and crop water use. Crop nitrogen demand was found to be close to crop nitrogen supply for all crop and pasture rotation elements with the exception of potato, which had an average surplus nitrogen supply of 89 kg N/ha. This resulted in potato having much higher nitrate nitrogen leaching losses (32 kg N/ha) compared to other crops (<10 kg N/ha). Simulations suggest that practicable management options such as deficit-based irrigation and reduced N fertiliser rates will maintain current levels of productivity while reducing potential offsite N loss and generating significant financial savings via reduced input costs.     

Exploring options for farm-level strategic and tactical decision-making in fruit production systems of South Patagonia,Argentina

In South Patagonia, Argentina, sweet cherry is the main fruit-tree crop grown for export, resulting in a highly seasonal labour demand. Managers of deciduous perennial fruit orchards must consider both biological and economic relationships in selecting crop species and orchard design. This makes decisions at the farm-level extremely complex, as especially in such perennial crops, strategic (‘what to plant’, ‘with which technology’ and ‘how much area of each activity’, i.e. the final design) and tactical (‘when, what and how to plant in time’, the pathway to the planned farm) decisions have a long-term effect. The objective of this study was to explore the consequences of different strategic and tactical decisions at farm scale in fruit production systems of South Patagonia, considering the variation in interests and aims of different stakeholders, and using a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the consequences of possible changes in external conditions. A dynamic farm-scale optimization model called OPTIFROP was developed to generate alternative farm development plans, by allocating, in the course of the time horizon of the run, production activities to different land units, while optimising different objective functions, subject to several constraints. Although time-dependent, dynamic, mathematical programming models for analysing farming systems have been described in literature, the dynamic aspects of long-term decision-making in orchard design and their impact on the sequential (annual) nature of orchards in different growth phases (i.e. medium-term decision-making), need a higher time-staged dynamic approach with a staircase matrix structure. The model includes two objective functions at farm level: (1) maximization of the present value of cumulative financial result, which is the main objective for growers, and (2) maximization of cumulative farm labour, which is an objective often mentioned by policy makers. The inter-months deviation for labour demand (during the period of high labour demand, November–April) was included as an upper-bound. Input and output coefficients for the land use options considered in OPTIFROP were quantified using the Technical Coefficient Generator FRUPAT. Model results indicated that the present value of cumulative financial result and the cumulative farm labour are conflicting to a very limited extent. Timing and feasibility of implementing certain combinations of production technologies are affected by resource endowments and initial conditions, but these factors do not influence land use selection in the long term. Land use selection is driven by the objectives of the stakeholders. OPTIFROP showed that, through introduction of alternative crops, substantial reductions in labour peaks in the period November–April could be achieved with a relatively small reduction in farm income. The sensitivity of the model solution to the cherry price suggests that the fruit production sector of South Patagonia should pay more attention to the robustness of their land use plans and take preventive measures to avoid being caught by a possible crisis due to changes in the context.     

A comparison of the water use of tree belts and pasture in recharge and discharge zones in a saline catchment in the Central West of NSW, Australia

Planting trees has been proposed as part of the solution to dryland salinity in Australia. The best location in the landscape and the spatial arrangement of trees however, is difficult to determine. This paper presents a case study of a field experiment that compared the water use of tree belts with that of pastures in recharge and discharge areas of a first order catchment in the Central West of NSW, Australia.The recharge tree belt and both pasture sites used very similar amounts of water but the discharge tree belt used double the water of the other three land uses by accessing groundwater. The discharge tree belt operated in an energy-limited environment, transpiring at a rate equivalent to atmospheric demand whereas the other three land uses were all water-limited. From a land management point of view, the establishment of more trees on the discharge site would have the biggest impact on reducing saline discharge and the least impact on the agricultural operations.     

Policies to support economic and environmental goals at farm and regional scales: Outcomes for rice farmers in Southern India depend on their resource endowment

Improving water use and nitrogen efficiencies is of overall importance to society at large - to conserve scarce water resources and prevent environmental pollution. Efficient cultivation practices for rice which had no yield penalty were not adopted by farmers because of the open access to water free of charge. Well-chosen combinations of policy measures are thus needed to stimulate adoption of new cultivation practices. We developed a multi-objective linear programming (MGLP) model to explore the impact of: (i) modified rice cultivation including water-saving irrigation on farm profit; (ii) water pricing and water quota government policies on adoption of modified rice cultivation by farmers; (iii) a combination of (i) and (ii) to achieve the objectives of both farmers and society at large, and (iv) to study the trade-offs between income, water and nitrogen use. The analysis was carried out on four rice-based farm types for the state of Tamil Nadu, South India. Model results showed that observed farm profit of all four farm types could be increased using current practices simply by optimizing land use for specific crops. Adoption of modified rice cultivation further increased farm profit. Water-saving practices were selected only when water pricing was introduced. Farm profits were reduced even at low water prices but were compensated by farmers through adoption of modified rice cultivation. The combination of policies that stimulate adoption of modified rice cultivation was effective in achieving both increased farm income and water savings. The required water prices differed across farm types and seasons and impacted poor resource-endowed farmers the most. Providing water quotas could protect the poor resource-endowed farmers. The model helped to identify the optimal water price and water quota for each farm type to achieve both the objectives of farmers and society at large. Opportunities for reducing water use and avoiding environmental pollution at acceptable profits are available for all farm types, but need to be tailored to the farmers’ resource endowments.     

A methodology for integrated economic and environmental analysis of pollution from agriculture

This paper presents a methodology for analyzing the effect of policies focused at reducing pollution from agriculture. Such a methodology must take into account that agricultural pollution is an effect of a large set of interacting processes, covers many different substances, and may vary substantially due to shifts in natural and economic conditions. Thus, the methodology must both cover the specificities of the different processes/disciplines involved and foster integration across these in a consistent way. The basic challenge is to cover the non-linear fine-scale variations at different levels of land-based production systems. Our methodology is founded on the idea of partitioning. It implies structuring and simplifying existing variation in space and time into partitions that are considered homogeneous. These partitions are organized in a hierarchy, and the different processes involved are modeled at the relevant level. We have concluded that analyses with fairly high level of resolution are preferable. This way it is also possible to combine a systems perspective with disciplinary integrity. A modeling structure – ECECMOD (2.0) – based on the developed principles is documented. The paper also shows the ability of this structure to simulate choice of farming practices and emissions that are well in accordance with observations from four Norwegian regions with very different agricultural and natural conditions.     

Environmental and economic impacts of reducing total phosphorous runoff in an agricultural watershed

The economy of northwest Arkansas relies greatly upon livestock and poultry production. The supply of production by-products is increasingly coming under scrutiny as an important source of water pollution in the region. This study uses stochastic dominance techniques to evaluate, environmentally and economically, a range of ten best management practice scenarios to lessen water pollution in the Lincoln Lake watershed. The goal is to generate rankings that could be useful for supporting producers’ and watershed managers’ selection of management practices to reduce total phosphorous losses in runoff. Specifically, this study compares scenarios in terms of net return risk reduction for bermudagrass hay producers.The results showed that environmental and economic rankings differ from each other. Although all scenarios analyzed were effective in reducing total phosphorous losses when compared to a baseline, six of them also decreased net returns. This suggests that including some best management practices may lead to increased net return risk. However, some scenarios were identified that may increase net returns, reduce total phosphorous losses and do not differ considerably from producers’ current management practices.The previous results suggested that the joint environmental-economic impact was important when considering scenarios and that producers’ risk attitudes and best management practices’ economic impacts should be accounted for when selecting scenarios. Producers and watershed managers can weigh trade-offs between total phosphorous losses reduction and net returns variability when making water conservation decisions.     

Irrigated agriculture in the Guadiana River high basin (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain): environmental and socioeconomic impacts

This article is concerned with the management of the Guadiana River high basin's water resources. The region of Castilla-La Mancha in general, and Western La Mancha and the Campo de Montiel in particular, are areas where agriculture has great economic importance. This activity is the principal water consumer, but it is necessary to take account of ecological and social considerations if two important objectives are to be achieved. Firstly, to keep wetlands and biodiversity. Secondly, to maintain natural resources which are vital if the area's future is to be assured. The paper criticizes the mechanical and partial methodological focus which has been used by conventional economics and agriculture. Thus, it supports an integrated and multidisciplinary view that recognises the region's biophysical and social characteristics in such a way that policies applied respect it.     

Least cost land-use changes for targeted catchment salt load and water yield impacts in south eastern Australia

This study reports an analysis of the economics of options for strategic land-use change to attain future catchment level target combinations of salt load and water yield. Farm level survey information on land use, productivity, prices and costs of production were integrated with spatially specific soil, rainfall, topography, hydrology and salinity results of the simulation model CAT (Catchment Analysis Tool). This information was used to populate a two stage economic optimization model in which subcatchment economic results were combined for catchment level analyses. This study is the first to exploit CAT results in an economic framework and the first in which economic results are mapped using CAT. The 64,000 ha Bet Bet Catchment in Victoria, Australia, once deemed among the highest priority areas in the Murray Darling Basin for dryland salinity reduction, is the focus of this study. The calculated current net present value (NPV) of agricultural production in the catchment is AU$ 78 million³ while providing 42 GL of water yield⁴ annually for use downstream with a salt load of 22,600 t. Results show that salt loads may be reduced to 18,600 t (reduction of 4000 t) through expansion of tree plantations and lucerne production, reducing water yield to 31 GL (11 GL reduction) and NPV to AU$ 63 million (AU$ 15 million reduction). Water yields could be increased from current levels by 2 GL while maintaining current salt loads. Alternatively, catchment NPV could be increased by approximately AU$ 7 million with little or no reduction in water yield; but there may be reasons (small farm size) why this is unlikely. For this catchment, the maximum reduction in salt load appears insufficient to justify public investment in tree planting and perennial pasture establishment, particularly when the reduced NPV and reduced water yields are taken into account. The results for this catchment do not support regulation of land use for the sake of lowering river salinity. However, the capacity of tree plantations to reduce water yields may support a regulation requiring purchase of water entitlements from downstream entitlement holders for new plantations. Despite millions of dollars of past public investment, it is now clear that Bet Bet Catchment was never one where land-use changes could benefit downstream water users. The approach described in this paper enables catchment management authorities to weigh costs of land-use change against downstream benefits and natural resource management (NRM) options elsewhere.     

Water saving and economic impacts of land leveling: the case study of cotton production in Tajikistan

Water conservation is essential to prevent salinity and land degradation in Central Asia. Therefore, field-testing and evaluation of water conservation methods, i.e. laser land leveling in new farming systems of Central Asia is important task. This in mind the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and its regional partner on IWRM FV (IWRM FV project – Integrated Water Resources Management in Ferghana Valley project is funded by Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and conducted jointly with IWMI and Scientific Information Center of Interstate Coordination Water Commission (SIC ICWC) in the Ferghana Valley of Central Asia) project SIC ICWC have conducted 3 year study of impacts of the Laser leveled land leveling on water use, productivity and crop yields in northern Tajikistan. The major research question was laser land leveling an effective water saving tool in the new context of land use and ownership on smaller private plots. Can farmers afford the costs of laser land leveling and how economically viable is it? These research questions were studied in 5 ha laser leveled and neighboring non-leveled (control) fields for 2004–2006. The results showed that laser land leveling can reduce the water application rate in 2004 by 593 M³/ha, in 2005 by 1509 M³/ha and in 2006 by 333 M³/ha in comparison with the unleveled field, located in the similar agro-ecological conditions. The deep percolation was 8% lower and run off 24% less than in non-leveled field. The average annual net income from the laser field was 22% higher than that from the control field. The gross margin from the laser-leveled field were 16. 88 and 171% higher compared to that from the control field for 2004, 2005 and 2006, and on average was 92% higher. In spite of these positive results, there are hindrances on wide application of laser land leveling in Tajikistan. These are absence of initial capital of farmers and scattered land location.     

Assessing multi-criteria approaches with environmental, economic and social attributes, weights and procedures: A case study in the Pampas, Argentina

Soil erosion control is a major issue in agriculture. The no till system of soybean production has been widely adopted; however, soil erosion may increase due to pasture and forestry land convertion to cropland in the marginal Pampas, Argentina. The aim of this paper is to assess the conflicts and trade-off among environmental, economic and social interests by using three continuous multi-criteria approaches and a set of different weights. Different land uses, crops, pastures, forestry and soil and water conservation practices at the basin scale in the marginal Pampas were assessed. The basin (423 km²) was discretised into 176 sub-basins to focus the management strategy on 5th and 6th order streams. Minimum basic information was obtained using intensive field observations and satellite images. The basin hydrology, soil erosion, sediment delivery and vegetated filter strip models and GIS were used to quantify the technical coefficients. Thirteen decision factors and six criteria (peak run-off, annual erosion, sediment, investment, gross margin and employment) were used in the optimisation trials. Weighted goal programming, lexicographic goal programming, compromise programming and a sensitivity analysis of weights were performed. The results showed a high impact of soil and water management practices on the environmental factors and a strong conflict between environmental and economic interests. The three multi-criteria approaches also showed that it is possible to obtain a good level of goal achievement with different plans. These plans should include: soil conservation practices; crop rotation (of a 2:1 soybean-to-corn ratio); gully and channel erosion control; regulation ponds; and pasture and agro-forestry areas. This goal achievement is mainly limited by public and private investment. Sensitivity analysis of the decision-maker weights shows differences among the values achieved by the criteria and their trade-off. Thus, the weight value of each criterium should be supported by the negotiation-consensus process.     

The Common Modelling Protocol: A hierarchical framework for simulation of agricultural and environmental systems

A modular approach to simulation modelling offers significant advantages for its application to agricultural and environmental questions, including re-use of model equations in different contexts and with different user-interfaces; configuration of model structures that are most appropriate to a given problem; and facilitation of collaboration between modelling teams. This paper describes the Common Modelling Protocol (CMP), a generic, open and platform-independent framework for modular simulation modelling that is in widespread use. The CMP is distinguished from existing simulation frameworks by taking an explicitly hierarchical view of the biophysical system being simulated and by representing continuous and discontinuous processes equally naturally. Modules of model logic are represented in the CMP by entities known as “components”. Each component may possess “properties” that convey the value of the quantities in its equations and “event handlers” that compute model logic. Low-level information-transfers in the CMP are carried out by means of a message-passing system. Co-ordinated sequences of messages carry out tasks such as initialization, exchange of variable values and the control of computation order. Extensible Markup Language (XML) is used in the protocol for tasks such as denoting data types, submitting simulations for execution and describing components to user-interface software. Examples are presented showing how the CMP can be used to couple modules developed by different teams and to configure a complex model structure. The choices and trade-offs encountered when building a framework for modular simulation are analyzed, using the CMP and other simulation frameworks as examples. The kinds of scientific issues that arise when the CMP is used to realize collaboration between modelling groups are discussed.     

Potential, spatial distribution and economic performance of regional biomass chains: The North of the Netherlands as example

This work assesses the viability of regional biomass chains by comparing the economic performance of potential bioenergy crops with the performance of current agricultural land uses. The biomass chains assessed are ethanol production from Miscanthus and from sugar beet in the North of the Netherlands. The competitiveness of bioenergy crops is assessed by comparing the Net Present Value (NPV) of perennial crops, current rotations, and rotation schemes which include additional years of sugar beet. The current land use and soil suitability for present and bioenergy crops are mapped using a geographical information system (GIS) and the spatial distribution of economic profitability is used to indicate where land use change is most likely to occur. Bioethanol production costs are then compared with petrol costs. The productions costs comprise costs associated with cultivation, harvest, transport and conversion to ethanol. The NPVs and cost of feedstock production are calculated for seven soil suitability classes. The results show that bioenergy crops are not competitive with current cropping systems on soils classed as “suitable”. On less suitable soils, the return on intensively managed crops is low and perennial crops achieve better NPVs than common rotations. Our results showed that minimum feedstock production costs are 5.4 €/GJ for Miscanthus and 9.7 €/GJ for sugar beet depending on soil suitability. Ethanol from Miscanthus (24 €/GJ) is a better option than ethanol from sugar beet (27 €/GJ) in terms of costs. The cost of bioethanol production from domestically cultivated crops is not competitive with petrol (12.34 €/GJ) production under current circumstances. We propose that the method demonstrated in this study, provides a generic approach for identifying viable locations for bioenergy crop production based on soil properties and current land use.     

The environmental impacts of the production of concentrated feed: the case of pig feed in Bretagne

Pig production systems often depend to a large extent on concentrated feed imported from outside the farm. This study used the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to assess major environmental impacts associated with the production and on-farm delivery of concentrated feed for pigs. Feed composition was based on average data for Bretagne (France) in 1998 and on published data for wheat-based, maize-based and co-product based feeds. As crop and feed production practices in Bretagne are similar to those in most of western Europe, we conclude that the results of this study apply more largely for western Europe. Depending on feed composition and fertilisation practise for crop-based feed ingredients, the production and delivery of one kg of feed for finishing pigs will produce a eutrophication potential between 3.8 and 9.3 g PO₄-equivalents, a global warming potential between 472 and 792 g CO₂-equivalents, an acidification potential between 3.0 and 6.3 g SO₂-equivalents, a terrestrial ecotoxicity potential between 0.4 and 8.7 g 1,4-dichlorobenzene-equivalents, an energy use between 3.3 and 6.1 MJ, and land use between 1.44 and 2.07 m² year. These impacts are mainly due to the production of crop-based ingredients. The contribution of transport processes was substantial for climate change, acidification and energy use. A feed containing mainly co-products had higher energy use and lower terrestrial ecotoxicity than feeds consisting mainly of non-processed crop-based ingredients. Hypotheses with respect to the fertilisation practices for the feed's main ingredients have a major effect on its impact values. The effect of uncertainty concerning the emissions of N₂O, NH₃, and NO₃ was very large for climate change, and large for acidification and eutrophication. The environmental burdens associated with the production and delivery of pig feed can be decreased by: optimising the fertilisation of its crop based ingredients, using more locally produced feed ingredients, reducing concentrations of Cu and Zn in the feed, and using wheat-based rather than maize-based feeds.