Page 17 of articles about environment in Swine news

The problems of river pollution and stench from commercial-scale pig farming activities in Kuching, Sarian and Samarahan can be overcome when the breeders relocate their operations to the 800-hectare integrated, environment-friendly pig-breeding centre, near Balai Ringin in Samarahan.

The area under organic agriculture has increased significantly over the last years and represents about 4.3% of the utilised agricultural area of the EU (in 2008), with particular high percentages in the Austria, Sweden, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Latvia.

Clearer rules and cleaner air are among the aims of the Industrial Emissions Directive approved by the European Parliament on Wednesday. Stricter limits will apply for air pollution for example, although Member States will have some flexibility to extend deadlines for power plants or waive the rules for other installations in special cases.

The Spanish Minister of Agriculture has presented the software ECOGAN, an application for the estimation of emissions and consumption of resources in farms.

The European Commission is studying the possibility of introducing a carbon tax with the aim of giving farmers an incentive to use the least polluting fuels and reducing household energy consumption.

A six-week consultation period on the new Nitrates Action Plan is set to be announced by the departments of Agriculture and Environment this week.

The Environmental Protection Agency published a new 18-page guidance document it says "provides clarification of some regulatory requirements" for CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) on national discharge permits.

The French minister of agriculture, Bruno le Maire, has decided to maintain the plan for energy improvement in agriculture to which 29.2 million euros will be assigned.

79% of holdings with outdoor pigs use a site rotation system with an average of 17 months being spent in a paddock before rotation.

The NVZ boundary was revised in May 2010 as a result of appeals by farmers against the decision to designate land within an NVZ.

The oversupply of manure from Dutch livestock farms is rising as a result of stricter environmental regulations. To solve this problem without manure export or technological innovations, the number of livestock will have to be reduced by twenty percent before 2020, reports the Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI).

A new survey released by Farming Futures – an industry-led project which helps farmers respond to climate change – reveals that one in four farmers have noticed increased interest from customers in their environmental performance over the past year.

The most recent Census of Agriculture counted more than 20,000 farms and ranches that were producing their own energy.

Scientists at the Wageningen University's Animal Sciences Group (ASG) presented a brochure called 'Varkansen'. The research, conducted at the request of Dutch agriculture minister Gerda Verburg, developed three designs for more sustainability in pig production; in translation called the Pagode, the Pillar and the Pearl.

Businesses and local authorities are being offered help to turn food, farm and other organic waste into energy and fuel.

Wageningen UR's Swine Research Farm at Sterksel is to carry out research into carbon neutral pig farming using a mini-biogas plant. The Productschap Vee en Vlees (Cattle and Meat Marketing Board) will invest 170 thousand euros in a low-cost prototype design.