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Providing feed to animals is an important cost when producing meat. In Brazil
corn and soy are becoming more expensive because of alternative uses, such as
biofuel production.
The LocalPork project investigates the use of alternative local feed sources
and improved breeding strategies to efficiently produce pork in various local
circumstances.
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Brazilian pork production
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Pork production in Brazil is based on feeding diets that contain mainly corn
and soy. Prices of corn and soy on the global market are affected by other
uses such as making food products and making biofuel. Even though Brazil is
a producer of corn and soy, the transportation from crop production centers
to pig production centers has a significant environmental and economic cost
due to the large distance between them. The LocalPork project investigates
the opportunities to use alternative local feed sources, such as by-products
from locally produced Macaúba, the fruit of a native palm species, together
with improved breeding strategies to better adapt the pigs to the local feed
and climate. The ultimate aim is to make local pork production more efficient
and sustainable which is expected to lead to better pork prices for consumers.
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LocalPork project
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LocalPork brings together researchers in animal nutrition, genetics and economics
from universities and companies in Brazil and the Netherlands. Four PhD candidates,
two in Wageningen and two in Viçosa, Brazil, will investigate animal nutrition,
feeding pigs with local feed ingredients, genetic improvement for efficient growth,
and the economic and environmental impacts from adapting feeding and breeding in
pork production to local circumstances. The project is a collaboration between
the Animal Breeding and Genomics Centre and the Business Economics Group of
Wageningen University, the Animal Science Department of Universidade Federal
de Viçosa, Brazil, together with the Dutch and Brazilian organizations of breeding
company Topigs Norsvin.
Kick-off meeting
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From the 10th to the 12th of February the researchers from the universities and
companies met in Wageningen, including the newly started PhD candidates, to
discuss the project plan and to integrate the research activities. Planned
research trials will provide information to multiple PhD projects. For instance,
how much pigs consume of a specific feed and the resulting growth of pigs, is
important for analyses on the genetic improvement of pigs as well as for
comparing economic and environmental impact of alternative diets. In addition
to discussing technical aspects of the research, plans were made for dissemination
of research output to stakeholders that include researchers as well as breeders of
pigs, crops, and pig farmers.
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| Project information : | John Bastiaansen |
| | Animal Breeding and Genomics Centre |
| | Wageningen University |
| | Tel. + 31 317482464 |
| | john.bastiaansen@wur.nl |
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