The calculator follows a latest carbon footprint research
16 April 2024
3 minute learn
Australian egg farmers will now have the ability to assess their on-farm carbon emissions, and discover alternate discount pathways with a brand new emissions calculator launched by main analysis and improvement organisation for the business, Australian Eggs.
It follows a latest carbon footprint research of the Australian egg business commissioned by Australian Eggs. The research aimed to evaluate the emissions and local weather affect of the Australian egg business for all manufacturing methods throughout the provision chain, set up business benchmarks, and establish alternatives for emission discount.
Australian Eggs Managing Director, Rowan McMonnies, stated because the Australian egg business continues to develop, additional efforts will likely be wanted to minimise environmental impacts.
“We all know from our annual Sustainability Framework Neighborhood Survey that environmental outcomes are one of many key drivers of group belief within the Australian egg business, and that nearly 70 p.c of Australians agree that the business has a decrease affect on the surroundings than different animal protein industries,” he stated.
“The roll out of photo voltaic vitality, land administration practices, vary regeneration, waste administration and will increase in productiveness have all contributed to a big discount within the business’s carbon footprint,” he added.
“Nonetheless, because the business continues to develop, it’s essential that we frequently look at alternatives for emission discount for the business to scale back impacts over time,” McMonnies stated.
The research discovered that when in comparison with different animal-protein industries, egg manufacturing has one of many lowest carbon footprints, with considerably decrease greenhouse fuel emissions per kilogram than pork, lamb and beef.
The analysis additionally concluded that feed manufacturing represented 43% of complete business carbon emissions, whereas grid equipped electrical energy consumption and farm operation processes like grading accounted for 19% of complete emissions.
Head researcher, Mary-Frances Copley stated the research additionally explored efficient mitigation methods.
“Presently, the simplest technique to cut back environmental impacts related to egg manufacturing is thru formulating diets to scale back reliance on excessive environmental-impact feed commodities, comparable to South American soybean meal. Improved land administration can be an avenue to storing carbon on-farm,” she stated.
“Whereas this research has established business benchmarks for GHG emissions, it has been a essential first step in establishing a devoted carbon calculator for particular person egg producers to utilise, so that they have the flexibility to know their very own local weather impacts,” she added.
The emissions calculator will permit farmers to higher perceive farm efficiency, and establish alternatives for enchancment, empowering them to purpose for and obtain lower-emission manufacturing.
“The calculator has been particularly designed for egg manufacturing and permits egg farmers to watch their on-farm emissions, in addition to their off-farm emissions, with the general goal of offering a baseline, that may be improved over time,” stated McMonnies.
The calculator will even measure the carbon footprint of the eggs produced on a specific farm to permit comparability with business benchmarks and perceive the place impacts differ.
“This carbon software can be utilized for rearing, cage, cage-free and free-range laying, feed milling, grading, composting and upstream feed manufacturing methods,” stated McMonnies.
“To make use of the calculator, producers will likely be required to offer manufacturing knowledge, data of bought inputs, comparable to grid electrical energy, litter and feed, in addition to tree planting knowledge and basic farm data,” he concluded.
