Optimising pig diets for decarbonisation

Project Lead: Rachael Bryant, NSW Department of Primary Industries

Project Partners: Australian Pork Limited

Diets can account for up to 30% of a pig farm’s emissions and there is an opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint by sourcing alternative protein for commercial pig diets from local sources.

Recent work by the University of Queensland explored alternative, protein-rich ingredients for Australian pigs. This project intends to use the findings from that work and formulate a ‘standard’ diet and ‘low-emissions diet’ using alternative and/or locally sourced protein ingredients for pigs. This proof-of-concept project will quantify the impact on emissions of substituting imported feed ingredients for locally produced ones, and provide pig producers with an indication of how financially feasible this may be as an emissions reduction strategy for their businesses.

Project Timeline: June 2024 – September 2024