Modelling of farm-gate nitrogen balance in pig production – case study of Latvia

The 150 million pigs reared across EU represent the largest livestock category before that of bovines. In Latvia in 2021 the number of pigs reached 327.0 thousand. The European Green Deal is aimed at transforming EU into an equitable and prosperous society, with a modern, competitive and efficient economy in the use of resources, in which there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases. The EU taxonomy for sustainable activities stipulates that economic activity can qualify as environmentally sustainable only if it substantially contributes to one or more environmental objectives. In case of agriculture, there are limited options how to contribute substantially. One of these options is ensuring sustainable farm-gate nitrogen balance. Moreover, in pig production this option is almost the only real option, especially for landless pig farms. The Platform on Sustainable Finance has proposed several indicators how to measure the farm-gate nitrogen balance, e.g. nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). There is a lack of systematic knowledge about the fam-gate nitrogen balance in Latvia’s pig farming. Therefore, the aim of the study was to model the farm-gate nitrogen balance and examine NUE for both conventional and organic pig production. The input data for modelling were derived from two comparable models of pig production (conventional and organic, 1 000 sows, full production cycle). The criterion of minimum NUE (40%) proposed by the platform was applied to assess the results of the modelling. Results of the study reveal that possibility to meet the minimum NUE of 40% depends on NUE of feed. NUE of feed should be higher than 50% in order to reach the minimum NUE of 40%: at least 58% (conventional production) and 66% (organic production). Thus, ensuring NUE of pig production at least 40% could be challenging for pig farms that purchase feed with unknown NUE or low NUE.