Relocation of pig productionin EU27 to reduce external N pollution costs

Why relocate?

We test the hypothesis that relocation of pig production within the EU27 can reduce the external costs of nitrogen (N) pollution. For economic reasons, pig production is often concentrated in regions close to urban consumers and ports to facilitate trade of feed and meat. As a consequence,emissions from pig farms, pig manure application to (feed) crops. and transport are concentrated in these regions. In 2008 the external cost of pollution by emissions of ammonia and nitrate from agriculture in the European Union (EU27) was estimated at 61-215 billion € (0.5 to 1.8% of GDP). The average contribution by pig production was 15%,with hot spots in Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, western Germany, Bretagne and Cataluna (Figure1). ExternalN costs are dominated by health impacts of ammonia containing aerosols and impacts of N inputs to aquatic ecosystems.