Diversity, Flexibility and Sustainability of Farm-level Production Systems (module II)

Status quo: 30 October, 2008
Co-ordinated by Michel Bonneau, National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA)

Objectives
To contribute to the development of a diversity of sustainable production systems (at farm level) that correspond to market and society demands. This will be achieved through 1) tool assessment and development; 2) integrated sustainability evaluation; and 3) systems design and assurance strategies

Main results obtained so far
A combined review of the available tools for the assessment of sustainability of pork production systems was performed, which considered animal health and welfare, genetic resources, meat quality and safety, environmental impact, economic sustainability, human working conditions and societal conformity. From the review:

• gaps and weakness were identified in the available tools which form the basis for further work an tool development (see below).
• a number of tools were selected and summarised in a handbook of standard operating procedures which will be used for an in-depth multidisciplinary evaluation of 15 pork production systems (see below)

An inventory of existing pork production systems was conducted. A total of 84 production systems were identified in 23 European countries, of which 40 were considered as conventional. The remaining 44 are differentiated in various claims including "animal welfare" (n=30), "eating quality" (n=31), "nutritional quality (n=11), "environment" (n=18), "local" (n=13) and "organic" (n=11). Comparatively to the conventional production systems, the differentiated ones are much smaller, they are more oriented towards home market and higher quality market segments. They use more commonly quality assurance system and labels. The animals are more commonly raised outdoor or on mixed lodging. Other non agricultural activities on the farm are more common and the absence of any other activity is less frequent. Technical performance is sometimes lower but economical performance is often better. Solid manure is more commonly used. Mortality rates tend to be higher. Specific rules for animal welfare are more commonly used.