The GGELS Project: European Greenhouse Gases Emissions from Livestock Production Systems LPS Regional Zoning for the Survey of Related Manure Management Practices

According to the Administrative Arrangement (AA) No. AGRI-2008-02451 signed between DG AGRI and DG JRC in 2008, the final expectation of the GGELS project is a more precise quantification of the greenhouse gases emission (GHG) from livestock production in Europe by considering GHG emission all along the production chains. To later analyse and plan European GHG mitigation scenario for the livestock sectors, a particular effort of description of the Livestock Production Systems (LPS) in place in Europe is necessary, livestock production differing largely over Europe. Total GHG emission from livestock production being the sum of GHG emissions specific to each step of the production chain, it was crucial to consider each production step for which GHG emissions is differing according to the local farming particularities and to the specific practices in vigour. The previous statements asked for considering spatial as well as strategic diversity of LPS existing in Europe and for the classification of LPS. For that, Work Package 2 (WP2) of the GGELS project has to focus on the conceptualisation and build up of a new LPS typology allowing policy makers to precisely identify LPS diversity. Regarding the main scales at which LPS datasets are available to date, LPS typology is planed to be performed at NUTS2 level (region level) in EU27. The dimensions to be considered in the LPS typology must reflect the strategies decided by the breeders according to market and regional (mainly biotic) constraints met in regions; these dimensions have also to point out the major livestock production steps responsible for GHG emission variation between regions. Finally, in respect to the administrative arrangement, LPS had to be considered for six different reared species: bovine for milk production (BOMILK), bovine for meat production (BOMEAT), porcine production of meat (PORCIN), ovine production of milk and meat (SHGOAT), meat from poultry production (POUFAT) and eggs production (LAHENS). The different LPS dimensions retained to differentiate European regions concerned “the herd’s assemblage”, “the animal feeding strategy”, “the animal keeping strategy” and again the “manures’ management practices” which condition GHG from livestock productions. Concerning manures management practices, since no specific information existed at region level, while JRC expertise on this issue was insufficient, it has been decided to launch a call for tender to select academic parties for a specific study on this issue following a questionnaire approach. The results of this survey should improve NUTS2 LPS description with manure management information for each region and improve efficiency of the final LPS typology to be produced. However, the setting up of a survey addressing manures’ management practices in vigour over Europe cannot be undertaken without considering the other dimensions cited above. To facilitate this task, DG JRC decided to perform a preliminary classification of the NUTS2 zones according to the remaining dimensions plus other regional descriptors such as regional meteorological particularities, economic intensity of the LPS, stocking density or again the potential autonomy to feed reared animals from local crops production. For that, official statistics contained inside databases of the CAPRI (Common Agricultural Policy Regional Impact Analysis) Modelling System have been used to describe diversity and particularities of the LPS (by specie) in every one of the European regions. Independently, by using Crop Growth Monitoring System (CGMS) datasets, classification of the climatic conditions met in Europe have been mapped. All classifications were performed using multivariate statistical procedures such as Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and two-way Hierarchical Ascendant Classification (HAC). Results of the by-specie LPS classifications have been then confronted to the clusters describing climate conditions in regions to interpret LPS diversity. In parallel, other statistics such as regional farm types repartition provided by Eurostat were used to verify of the pertinence of the results obtained from the purely statistical method applied. Then, clusters verified were interpreted by relating all dimensions together to give a picture as reliable as possible of the reality following a more subjective approach; finally, to ease the comprehension of the reader, by-specie LPS clusters were mapped in a GIS environment. In most cases and especially for grazing animals (BOMILK, BOMEAT, SHGOAT), the clusters obtained statistically were relatively reliable to the current state of the art. The dimensions retained allowed us to identify and characterize the main regions where bovine and porcine livestock production are performed. The interpretation of the clusters when passing from a purely quantitative (statistical) to a qualitative interpretation (more subjective) was relatively obvious and didn’t pose difficulties. On the other hand, interpretation of the clusters obtained for POUFAT and LAHENS (and for PORCIN at the less extent) was sometime uneasy; despite specific adaptations of certain descriptors, certain clusters were difficult to distinguish or to interpret. Local feedstuffs autonomy and stocking density for instance were not as informative for monogastric animals as they were for grazing animals. Concerning grazing animals, the lack of information in the European database and in the CAPRI datasets influenced greatly the keeping strategies identified and attributed to the clusters; further studies should consider in deep this dimension regarding the importance it has with the manure management and feeding strategies and the nature of the GHG emitted. Despite possible improvements, the preliminary zoning performed here allowed us to identify and describe reliably the specificities of the LPS in every one of the European regions (EU27). From this, we proposed a by-specie and by-LPS type sampling of the regions. This was undertaken to help the academic party to decide later of the minimum sample size necessary to obtain reliable information on the regional manures’ management practices in vigour regarding the particularities of the LPS pointed out in this report. Keywords Livestock production systems, GHG, bovine, ovine, porcine, poultry, Europe, classification, zoning, manures management, feeding, keeping, intensification, revenues, CAPRI How to obtain EU publications Our priced publications are available from EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu), where you can place an order with the sales agent of your choice. The Publications Office has a worldwide network of sales agents. You can obtain their contact details by sending a fax to (352) 29 29-42758. The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, the JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether private or national. LB -N A -2339-EN -C