1 Introduction
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Definition of goal and scope of the study
2.1.1 Goal of the S-LCA
2.1.2 Functional unit
2.1.3 System boundaries
Subsystem | Stakeholders | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Workers | Farmers | Local community | Pigs | Consumers | Society | |
Soybean farm Non-GMO conventional soy—Brazil; organic soy—China and Italy | X | - | X | - | - | X |
Rapeseed farm Conventional rapeseed—Denmark and Sweden; organic rapeseed—Denmark | X | - | X | - | - | X |
Pig farm Rearing pigs, and cereal production included—Sweden | X | X | X | X | - | X |
Slaughterhouse, Sweden | X | - | X | X | - | - |
Consumption, Sweden | - | - | - | - | X | - |
2.1.4 Pig production system description
Conventional | Organic | Source | |
---|---|---|---|
Sow | |||
Number of litters/sow per year | 2.3 | 2.1 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018; AHDB 2017) |
Live born piglets per littre | 14.6 | 12.4 | |
Mean daily weight gain pre weaning nursery (kg/day) | 0.3 | 0.3 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018) |
Weaning age (days) | 33 | 42 | (Ingvar Eriksson Gård och Djurhälsan personal communication 16 August 2019; AHDB 2017) |
Mortality piglets nursery (% of total of live born pigs) | 18 | 21 | (Gård och Djurhälsan 2017) |
Piglets live weight at weaning (kg) | 10 | 13 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018; AHDB 2017) |
Mortality sows (%) | 7 | 7 | (Ingvar Eriksson Gård och Djurhälsan personal communication 16 August 2019) |
Culled sows in % of total number of annual sows | 50 | 40 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018) |
Gilt age at first farrowing (days) | 354 | 367 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018) |
Gilt weight at first insemination (kg) | 140 | 140 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018) |
Mean sow weight (kg) | 240 | 240 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018) |
Growing and finishing pig | |||
Mean daily weight gain 11–35-kg weaners (kg/day) | 0.6 | 0.57 | (Ingvar Eriksson Gård och Djurhälsan personal communication 16 August 2019) |
Post weaning nursing period (days) | 42 | 38.5 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018) |
Mean daily weight gain 36–60-kg growers (kg/day) | 0.68 | 0.65 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018) |
Growing period (days) | 37 | 38 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018) |
Mean daily weight gain 61–110-kg finishers (kg/day) | 0.9 | 0.85 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018) |
Finishing period (days) | 67 | 68 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018) |
Mortality weaners (% of total number of weaners) | 2 | 4 | (Ingvar Eriksson Gård och Djurhälsan personal communication 16 August 2019) |
Mortality growing pigs (% of total number of growers) | 1 | 1.9 | (Ingvar Eriksson Gård och Djurhälsan personal communication 16 August 2019) |
Mortality finishers (% of total number of finishers) | 1.8 | 1.6 | (Ingvar Eriksson Gård och Djurhälsan personal communication 16 August 2019; Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018; Agriwise 2018) |
Live weight at slaughter (kg) | 124 | 120 | (Nils Lundeheim SLU personal communication 12 November 2018; Ingvar Eriksson Gård och Djurhälsan personal communication 16 August 2019) |
2.1.5 Stakeholder categories
2.1.6 Choice of subcategories
Subsystem | Subcategory | Inventory indicator | Social sustainability issue |
---|---|---|---|
Soybean farm | Freedom of association and collective bargaining | Global Rights Index workers | Organization freedom and uniona |
Child labour | Child labour percentage | Poor application of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Childa | |
Fair salary | Minimum wage | Low wages (The Dutch Soy Coalition 2008) | |
Working hours | Work hours per week | Long working hoursa | |
Forced labour | Global Slavery Index | Slavery (The Dutch Soy Coalition 2008) | |
Equal opportunities/discrimination | Gender Equality Index | Gender inequality at farmsa | |
Health and safety | Hospital beds per 1000 inhabitants Physicians per 1000 inhabitants | Limited access to health services (The Dutch Soy Coalition 2008) | |
Percentage of DNA damage in leucocytes of farm and office workers | Risk of cancer from pesticide use (Walker et al. 2005) | ||
Adult literacy rate | Poor training of workers on management of chemicals, safety, first aid and waste management on farmsa | ||
Social benefits and security | Percentage of unemployed receiving social security unemployment benefits Public social protection expenditure on benefits | Unsatisfactory social benefits (Zortea et al. 2018) | |
Rapeseed farm | Fair salary | Lowest wage | Low wagesb |
Working hours | Work hours per week | Long working hoursb | |
Forced labour | Global Slavery Index | Slaveryb | |
Equal opportunities/discrimination | Gender Equality Index | Gender inequality at farmsb | |
Health and safety | Hospital beds per 1000 inhabitants Physicians per 1000 inhabitants | Limited access to health servicesb | |
Pig farm | Fair salary | Average wage per month | Lower salary for pig caretakers due to rise of industrial pig production (Honeyman 1996) |
Working hours | Work hours per week | Long working time (Porcher 2011) | |
Health and safety | Percentage with respiratory disease | ||
Risk of antibiotic resistance | Antibiotic resistance (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus—MRSA) (Van Boeckel et al. 2015) | ||
Percentage of farm workers with musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) | Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD)a | ||
Accidents per 1000 workers | Accidentsa | ||
Social benefits and security | Percentage of unemployed receiving social security unemployment benefits Public social protection expenditure on benefits | Rare paid sick leave on pig farms (Porcher 2011) | |
Slaughter house | Fair salary | Average wage per month | Low wages (Dillard 2008) |
Working hours | Work hours per week | Long working time (Dillard 2008) | |
Equal opportunities | Ratio of females to males employed Percentage gender salary gap | Gender inequalitya | |
Health and safety | Accidents per 1000 workers | Accidents—physical danger from sharp knives (Dillard 2008) | |
Work related sickness per 1000 workers | Work related sickness (musculoskeletal disorders, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, white finger, psychological traumatic stress) (Dillard 2008) |
Subsystem | Subcategory | Inventory indicator | Social sustainability issue |
---|---|---|---|
Pig farm | Freedom of association | Difference in proportion of farmers with freedom of association | Organization freedom and uniona |
Fair incomea | Average income per year | Lower incomea | |
Working hours | Work hours per week | Long working timea | |
Health and safety | Risk of antibiotic resistance | Antibiotic resistance (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)a | |
Percentage of farmers with musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) | Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD)a | ||
Accidents per 1000 | Accidentsa | ||
Social benefits and security | Proportion of farmers with access to social benefits | Rare paid sick leave on pig farmsa | |
Work satisfactiona | Percentage of farmers with low status | Low status and recognition in societya |
Subsystem | Subcategory | Inventory indicator | Social sustainability issue |
---|---|---|---|
Soybean farm | Access to material resources | Percentage change in forest area 2000–2010 | |
Delocalization and migration | Land holding inequality Gini Index | Delocalization due to expanding soybean farms and land grabbing/land speculation (The Dutch Soy Coalition 2008) | |
Cultural heritage | Food production diversity score | More cash crop production by small-scale farmers at the expense of more traditional crops (The Dutch Soy Coalition 2008) | |
Safe and healthy living conditions | Active ingredient per ha | Human and environmental pesticide toxicity from pesticides and herbicides (The Dutch Soy Coalition 2008) | |
Rapeseed farm | Delocalization and migration | Percentage employed in the agricultural sector | Delocalization to urban areas due to fewer and larger farmsb |
Safe and healthy living conditions | Active ingredient per ha | Human and environmental toxicity from pesticides and herbicidesb | |
Pig farm | Access to material resources | Percentage of farms below 100 ha | Community assistance from farmers, for example snow clearancea |
Percentage of farms above 100 ha | Large farms results in improved infrastructure (installation of internet infrastructure etc.)a | ||
Percentage of farms with stores | Access to farm storesa | ||
Delocalization and migration | Percentage change in farms above 100 ha | Reduction in number of family farms due to industrial pig production (Honeyman 1996) | |
Cultural heritage | Percentage of pigs kept indoors throughout life | Pigs kept indoors and not seen outside (Boogaard et al. 2011) | |
Slaughter house | Access to material resources | Average of water use per tonne pork |
Subsystem | Subcategory | Inventory indicator | Social sustainability issue |
---|---|---|---|
Consumption | Health and safety | Meat consumption per capita | Health Obesity due to pork consumption (Walker et al. 2005) Cardiovascular disease due to excessive meat consumption (Walker et al. 2005) Type II diabetes due to excessive meat consumption (Walker et al. 2005) Cancer due to excessive meat consumption (Grunert et al. 2018) |
Risk seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infected meat | Food safety Salmonella sp. infection from meat (McGlone 2013) Campylobacter sp. infection from meat (McGlone 2013) Yersinia enterocolitica infection from meat (Drummond et al. 2012) Hepatitis E virus infection from meat (Wacheck et al. 2012) Toxoplasma gondii infection from meat (Kijlstra et al. 2004) Antibiotic resistance from meat (Van Boeckel et al. 2015) | ||
Perception of valuea | Price per kg carcass | Low economic value of pork meata | |
Affordabilitya | Price per kg carcass | High price of pork (Mcglone 2013) | |
Extrinsic attributesa | Percentage of pork products with a label indicating extrinsic quality | Known origin of the meat (Bernués et al. 2003) | |
Eating qualitya | Ultimate pH (pork) | Low quality of meat (Boogaard et al. 2011) |
Subsystem | Subcategory | Inventory indicator | Social sustainability issue |
---|---|---|---|
Pig farm | Animal-friendly housinga | Percentage of pigs with access to daylight | Daylight for pigs (Boogaard et al. 2011) |
Percentage of pigs with slatted floors | Slatted floors (Pedersen 2017) | ||
The indoor space per pig | Freedom to move (Boogaard et al. 2011) | ||
Percentage of time a pig spends in an outdoor environment | Outside access (Boogaard et al. 2011) | ||
Percentage of pigs provided enrichment material | Distraction material straw (Boogaard et al. 2011) | ||
Months per year a sow spends in a crate | Crated sowsa | ||
Possibility to express natural behaviora | Percentage of pigs provided roughage as feed | Absence of roughage (Boogaard et al. 2011) | |
Percentage of pigs with bitten tails | |||
Access outdoor area or deep straw bed | Possibility to express natural behaviour—rooting, playing, and lying in the mud (Boogaard et al. 2011) | ||
Free from fear, pain, and injuriesa | Injuries per pig | Scared, stressed, injured, and ill animals (Boogaard et al. 2011) | |
Good animal healtha | Percentage of pigs with osteochondrosis | Osteochondrosisa | |
Percentage of pigs with Erysipelas | Swine erysipelasa | ||
Pig mortality | Piglet mortality (Bergstra et al. 2017) | ||
Percentage of pigs with pneumonia | Lung diseasea | ||
Percentage of pigs with internal parasites | Ascaris suum (Sutherland et al. 2013) | ||
Prevalence of shoulder lesions | Shoulder lesionsa | ||
Weaning age | Weaning age (Bergstra et al. 2017) | ||
Animal friendly managementa | Percentage of tail docked pigs | ||
Percentage of pigs with nose rings | Use of nose rings (Boogaard et al. 2011) | ||
Slaughterhouse | Free from fear, pain and injuriesa | Percentage of pigs with injuries | Injuries due to fighting at slaughter house especially overnighta |
Animal friendly managementa | Ultimate pH | Stress in pigs at slaughter, poor meat quality (an indicator of stress), fear/stress due to transport, and handling before slaughter (Carlsson et al. 2007) |
Subsystem | Subcategory | Inventory indicator | Social sustainability issue |
---|---|---|---|
Soybean farm | Public commitment to sustainability | Ecosystem status | Commitment to environmental sustainability: deforestation, loss of biodiversity, erosion, and degradation |
Contribution to economic development | Hours per hectare | Low employment due mechanization of crop cultivation (The Dutch Soy Coalition 2008) | |
Contribution to food production/securitya | Yield per hectare | Low productivity per hectarea | |
Rapeseed farm | Public commitment to sustainability | Ecosystem status | Commitment to environmental sustainability: deforestation, loss of biodiversity, erosion, and degradationb |
Contribution to economic development | Hours per hectare | Low employment due mechanization of crop cultivationb | |
Contribution to food production/securitya | Hectares per tonne | Low productivity per hectareb | |
Pig farm | Public commitment to sustainability issues | Proportion of human edible component | High food/feed competition (Walker et al. 2005) |
Percentage of farms with resistant E. coli | Contribution to antibiotic resistancea | ||
Cross Local Index | Reduction of the animal genetic variability (Nardone and Gibon 2015) | ||
Contribution to economic development | Percentage of farmers less than 35 years | Aging of pig farmers (Honeyman 1996) | |
Hours per tonne pork | Low employment (work hours per 1000-kg pork)a | ||
Contribution to food production/securitya | Carcass meat production (kg) per sow | Low productivity per sowa |
2.2 Life cycle inventory
2.2.1 Activity variables
Stakeholder category and subsystem | Activity variables | Number of inventory indicators with Social Risk > 0.5 out of total inventory indicators | Social Risk Time | Social Hotspot Index | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conventional | Organic | Conventional | Organic | Conventional | Organic | Conventional | Organic | |
Workers | 13 | 79 | 16/32 | 13/32 | 5.7 | 29 | 0.40 | 0.31 |
Soybean farm | 1.6 | 58 | 8/12 | 5/12 | 0.64 | 20 | 0.24 | 0.27 |
Rapeseed farm | 0.18 | 0.13 | 2/6 | 2/6 | 0.07 | 0.05 | 0.11 | 0.10 |
Pig farm | 9 | 19 | 4/8 | 4/8 | 3.7 | 7.9 | 0.42 | 0.42 |
Slaughterhouse | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2/6 | 2/6 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.48 | 0.48 |
Farmers | 29 | 61 | 3/8 | 3/8 | 15 | 29 | 0.52 | 0.48 |
Local commun. | 4900 | 24,000 | 7/12 | 2/12 | 2200 | 5,000 | 0.42 | 0.20 |
Soybean farm | 250 | 1900 | 3/4 | 0/4 | 120 | 360 | 0.27 | 0.14 |
Rapeseed farm | 310 | 160 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 160 | 57 | 0.13 | 0.09 |
Pig farm | 4300 | 22,000 | 3/5 | 1/5 | 1900 | 4,600 | 0.45 | 0.21 |
Slaughterhouse | 47 | 47 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 15 | 15 | 0.32 | 0.32 |
Consumers | 25,000 | 25,000 | 2/16 | 2/16 | 9000 | 7500 | 0.36 | 0.30 |
Pigs | 5000 | 5300 | 5/21 | 3/21 | 1700 | 1200 | 0.34 | 0.22 |
Pig farm | 5000 | 5300 | 5/19 | 3/19 | 1700 | 1200 | 0.34 | 0.22 |
Slaughterhouse | 0.51 | 0.51 | 0/2 | 0/2 | 0.25 | 0.15 | 0.48 | 0.30 |
Society | 3,200,000 | 16,000,000 | 7/12 | 5/12 | 1,700,000 | 7,600,000 | 0.48 | 0.46 |
Soybean farm | 170,000 | 1,300,000 | 1/3 | 0/3 | 59,000 | 380,000 | 0.21 | 0.23 |
Rapeseed farm | 210,000 | 110,000 | 2/3 | 2/3 | 130,000 | 68,000 | 0.17 | 0.15 |
Pig farm | 2,900,000 | 15,000,000 | 4/6 | 3/6 | 1,500,000 | 7,200,000 | 0.53 | 0.49 |