@article{DECLERCQ:212684,
      recid = {212684},
      author = {DE CLERCQ, L. and WILLEGHEMS, G. and MICHELS, E. and  MEERS, E. and BUYSSE, J.},
      title = {The impact of concentrated pig production in Flanders: a  spatial analysis},
      address = {2015},
      number = {718-2016-48737},
      year = {2015},
      abstract = {Historically concentrated livestock production and,  consequently, manure production and management in Belgium  have resulted in severe environmental impacts. One major  impact, nitrate leaching from soil to surface water, is  being tackled through the European Nitrates Directive by  imposing strict fertilization standards. However, another  significant impact of manure management is the emission of  greenhouse gasses (GHG - CO2, CH4, NH3 and N2O) into the  air, thereby contributing to global warming. Calls have  been made to reduce the high manure pressure and related  environmental effects in Belgium by relocating and more  evenly spreading livestock production.
This paper explores  the spatial spreading of CO2-equivalent emissions from  livestock production in Belgium and attempt to answer the  following question: ‘Can spatial reallocation of livestock  production in Belgium reduce the impact of GHG emissions?’.  This question is translated into several research  objectives: 1) conduct an economic (cost minimization) and  environmental (GHG minimization) optimization for 3 manure  management scenarios, 2) determine the main differences  between both approaches, and 3) determine the marginal  spatial impact on CO2 emissions of a decrease in manure  pressure (i.e., increased spreading of pig production).
To  conduct the analysis, a model was developed that builds on  the spatial mathematical programming multi-agent manure  allocation model developed by Van der Straeten et al.  (2010). Three options for manure management are inserted:  transport of raw manure from nutrient excess to nutrient  deficit areas, biological treatment of manure (manure  processing) and manure separation. The model optimizes, at  municipal level, either the cost-efficiency, either the  environmental effect of the manure market in Belgium based  on Belgian fertilization standards. While cost-efficiency  is calculated based on transport distances and cost of  manure separation and processing, GHG emissions, and hence,  carbon footprint, are determined based on a life cycle  analysis type calculation.
The results of the model  simulations show that, while the economic optimum is  reached by maximizing the transport of raw manure until  fertilization standards are fulfilled and subsequently  separating and processing the excess manure, the  environmental optimum, from a carbon footprint point of  view, is reached by separating all manure as this option  has the lowest CO2 emissions, mainly due to the limited  manure storage time. Moreover, the analyses indicate that  rearrangement of the spatial spreading of livestock  production in Belgium will not substantially decrease CO2  emissions. As manure storage is the main contributor to the  carbon footprint, solutions should rather lie in changing  these storage systems.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/212684},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.212684},
}