Sustainable Pig Production Systems Deliverable 2.1 : Publishable report on development of detailed and condensed protocols

SusPigSys is a European research project looking at how profitability on pig farms can be sustained, while maintaining animal health and welfare and promoting farmer wellbeing, all without compromising environmental resources. In contrast to many other projects and studies, SusPigSys aims at addressing all relevant sustainability dimensions. Especially animal health and welfare, a dimension particularly important for livestock farms, is rarely considered in sustainability studies as an extra dimension. SusPigSys aims at collecting, summarising and disseminating objective information on successful strategies for improving sustainability in various EU pig production systems and increasing resilience at the farm level. Working with the industry it assesses sustainability across a range of pig production systems in seven EU member states (Austria, Germany, Finland, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom). Specifically, it aims to develop an integrated sustainability assessment tool that farmers can use to assess the performance of their own farm and benchmark their business with other pig production farms, which can support the implementation of specific improvement measures. Thereby the development and implementation of sustainable farming methods across different production systems will be supported for the benefit of farmers, animals, the environment and wider society. It is expected that this tool would contribute to improved productivity and competitiveness of EU pig production as well as environmental sustainability. Moreover, consumer acceptability could be enhanced by addressing societal concerns such as animal welfare, product quality and safety.