Carbon Positive Roadmap for the Australian pork industry

APL aims to achieve carbon positive pork production by 2025, an ambitious goal developed following a long-term investment to understand, report and reduce GHG emissions. The pork industry was among Australia’s first to initiate GHG research, and previous studies have shown that the industry has lower emissions than red meat, and has clear reduction opportunities.

In spite of these previous projects, much of the findings are inaccessible as it is buried in hundreds of pages of complex research. This project aimed to address this through development of guidance documents for various scale production systems, offering practical and economically feasible options in reducing GHG emissions.

Value for producers:

• Producers, and the industry, will have a clear and concise pathway to achieving carbon positive pork through development of a producer facing 'Roadmap' that provides options on meeting the goal of carbon positive pork for various product systems and sizes.
• APL will be equipped to provide extension to producers who seek to reduce their carbon emissions.
• The industry will enhance their reputation and social license by demonstrating a pathway towards a community expectation of zero emissions.

Key findings:

• Knowledge gaps identified where further research would assist in the roadmap. These gaps will inform future R&D spend.
• Existing actions to immediately and incrementally decrease farm carbon footprint identified. These recommendations already have supporting research for potential immediate on-farm adoption.