Cost of Reducing Nitrogen and Phosphorus Emissions on Pig Farms in The Netherlands

Abstract

Agriculture, and, in particular, animal production, contributes substantially to Duct environmental problems, i.e. acidification and pollution of ground- and surface-water. This paper focuses on the possibilities of reducing nitrogen and phosphorus emissions on individual pig farms. Measures to reduce these emissions have been summarized. Packages of measures have been formulated to show possible combinations of measures and to determine maximum attainable emission reductions for all relevant measures and packages of measures. Emission reduction and implementation costs have been calculated for all relevant measures and packages of measures to produce the costs per unit emission reduction.Results show that measures to reduce nitrogen or phosphorus content in the diet produce low cost per unit emission reduction. Measures to reduce ammonia volatilization from pig houses are costly. Manure processing at central plants combined with measures in the pig house are very effective in reducing emissions on pig farms.