Page 30 of articles about environment

Cattle, swine, and poultry farms in France, considered to be installations classified for environmental protection (ICPE), will enjoy relaxed environmental regulations when regrouping or modernizing, according to a public decree on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 in Frances Official Bulletin.

The carbon footprint of Irish food products have been rated as amongst the best in the EU according to a major study just published by the Joint Research Centre of the EU Commission.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the expansion of a USDA initiative to help farmers and ranchers conduct energy audits and improve their overall energy efficiency.

In the last 3 years, the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture (SAGARPA), through the Shared Risk Trust (FIRCO), has earmarked 300 million pesos for the installation of 305 bio-digesters on 305 farms. Keeping in mind that for every peso donated by the federal government, the producers provide two, the total investment in the installation of bio-digesters increases to 900 million pesos.

The GIRO Foundation Technological Centre (Catalonia) and the Danish Centre CBMI (Innovation Centre for Bioenergy and Environmental Technologies) have won a European Commission open competition to make a European inventory of livestock waste treatment activities and to define future trends that need strengthening in the EU 27.

Quebec pork producers have taken the initiative to assess their carbon footprint in response to consumer concerns over issues of greenhouse gas (GHG) generated by pork production. Results of a study by OCO Technologies found this footprint is below the worldwide average. The carbon footprint for pork production in Quebec is 4.16 kg of CO2 produced per kg of pork carcass.

During the 11th Five-Year Plan period, the central government has spent 21.2 billion yuan on the development of biogas in rural areas.

Taiwan’s hog output has surpassed rice since 1986 to become the No. 1 item of agricultural and livestock products. The average annual hog output was NT$57 billion in the recent three years, accounting for 16% of the total agricultural output, according to the annual agriculture report. The pig head survey in May 2010 showed that there were 6.126 million heads of pig in Taiwan and port consumption still accounted for some 50% of the total domestic meat consumption, demonstrating the importance of the pig industry in both production and consumption.

The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, has announced funding of $100 million for world-class collaborative research and innovation under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will invest USD 100 million to expand the Biogas Program until 2018 by installing an additional 100,000 on-farm biogas generators in 30 to 35 provinces.

What is animal welfare to a pig, and what does science know about methods to measure animal welfare? Now, Danish research in animal welfare is gathered at a Danish Centre for Animal Welfare

The European Commission today adopted a negative final decision on the aid granted by the Belgian authorities to cover all the costs of removing, transporting, storing, processing and destroying fallen stock from agricultural holdings in the Walloon region.

Member States have the obligation to establish a system for advising farmers on land and farm management, the so-called Farm Advisory System (FAS). It is a major component of the 2003 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform and had to be introduced by 2007. The objective of the FAS is to help farmers to become more aware of on-farm processes relating to the environment, food safety and animal health and welfare.

Since the introduction of EU Animal By-product Regulation (ABPR) 1774/2002, the open burning and burial of fallen livestock on-farm has been prohibited. A new research project has examined the current methods of livestock disposal available to farmers within the UK, EU and globally. Upon consultation of farmers around the UK, a novel method of on-farm storage and bioreduction was desired to try to reduce the cost of disposal and increase compliance to EU legislation.