1. Benchmarking Sustainability for the US Poultry Industry
A Lifecycle Assessment of US Broiler Production for the Year 2010
Presentation at LCA XVI on September 26th, 2016.
Presenter: Ben Putman
Study Authors: Ben Putman, Greg Thoma, Jasmina Burek, and Marty Matlock

2. Introduction
The US Poultry and Egg Association and the National Chicken Council are implementing a sustainability strategy for the industry based on a continuous improvement framework.
The University of Arkansas developed a strategy for implementing this framework.
LCA of US poultry production for the national average in 2010.
The year 2010 will serve as a benchmark for continuous improvement.

3. Goal and Scope Definition
Purpose: Provide a benchmark for the US poultry industry and contribute to the NAL LCA Commons
Functional Unit: 1000 kilograms of live poultry at the farm gate
System Boundaries: All direct and indirect emissions associated with the production of raw materials used in the cultivation of feedstuffs to the production of meat-type broiler chickens
Impact Category: Global warming potential (IPCC 2013)
Resource Use: Water depletion, land occupation, and non-renewable energy
Define the purpose, functional unit, impact categories, and system boundaries

4. System Boundaries
Impacts begin with one day old chicks at the grandparent generation and end with live broilers at the farm gate
Only electricity use by the hatcheries was included in the inventory
Allocation by physical relationships
Treatment of litter according to LEAP (Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance) guidelines

5. Biophysical Allocation
Hens grown to produce hatching eggs represent a system having three products: spent hens, eggs, and litter
Allocation according to energy requirements using FAO LEAP guidelines for poultry:
Spent hens according to growth energy
Eggs according to the production energy
Litter according to the heat increment for feeding
Heat increment for feeding: the energy expended by the birds for feeding and digestion, separate from maintenance energy

6. Lifecycle inventory data were collected from multiple sources:
Peer-reviewed literature
Government data and reports
Poultry textbooks
Industry handbooks
Energy audits
Discussions with experts in academia and industry
Lifecycle Inventory
Collect the data necessary to determine the inputs and outputs relevant to the system under assessment

7. Crop Production Characteristics
Inputs per 1000kg harvested
Corn
Soybeans
Wheat
Land (m2)
1039
3510
3535
Irrigation water (m3) 51 74
107
Herbicide (kg)
0.27
0.55
0.13
Insecticide (kg)
0.01
0.02
N, fertilizer (kg)
15.8
1.1
22.2
P, fertilizer (kg)
5.5
4.2
7.6
K, fertilizer (kg)
5.7
31.5
1.5
Diesel (L)
5.2
17.1
17.4
Fuel oil (L)
6.9 10
7.5
Electricity (kWh)
32.5
47.8
69.2
Emissions
N2O, residues (kg)
0.14
0.24
NO3, residues (kg)
9.61
16.71
16.57
N2O, fertilizers (kg)
0.33
0.46
NH3, fertilizers (kg)
1.92
2.69
NO3, fertilizers (kg)
19.24
1.38
26.95
PO4, fertilizers (kg)
0.57
0.43
0.79
5 year averages for yields ( )
Crop protection chemicals per USDA ERS 2008
Irrigation water use from NASS and FRIS 2008
Emissions via IPCC Tier 1
Crop production processes (i.e. harvesting, irrigation pumps) from USEI v2.2
Note: Values in this table are presented as per 1000kg harvested. These numbers look much different when expressed in terms of inputs/outputs per unit of land.

8. Broiler Ration Compositions
Poultry Rations
Broiler Ration Compositions
Feeds
Hens
Broilers
Corn, No. 2
59.32%
64.17%
Soybean meal
20.96%
24.04%
Wheat shorts
0.54%
3.13%
Poultry byproduct meal (PBM)
6.45%
4.89%
Tallow
2.14%
1.67%
Limestone
10.08%
1.14%
Salt
0.23%
0.35%
Dical Phosphate
0.07%
0.18%
Vitamin mix
0.10%
L Lysine
0.00%
0.08%
DL-Methionine
0.11%
0.25%
Formulated with consultation from poultry science researchers and a nutrition textbook
Byproducts allocated by mass- adjusted energy content
Soybean meal, wheat shorts, and poultry byproducts
PBM and tallow based on results from this study
Unit processes in USEI used for all other ingredients

9. Models were built with the following characteristics:
Separate models for broilers, pullets, and laying hens
Growth/production curves based on performance objective tables from Aviagen
Broiler FCR, market weight, and mortality targets from National Chicken Council (US averages for 2010)
Live Poultry Models
Deterministic, spreadsheet-based models estimate growth, feed consumption, and mortality

10. Poultry Production – Bird Characteristics
Production Length: 47 days
Market Weight: 2.59 kg
Feed Conversion: 1.94 kg feed/kg LW
Mortality: 4%
Broilers
Productivity: 186 eggs per hen
Spent Hen Weight: 3.85 kg
Feed Conversion: 2.98 kg feed/dozen eggs
Mortality: 8%
Hens (broiler breeders)

11. Poultry Production – Operations
Energy consumption based on poultry house audits in Arkansas, Kentucky, and Georgia
Energy usage independent of bird growth models
Energy use is assumed to be independent of housing type
Operator has more influence than any one specific housing attribute
Bedding material and cooling water also estimated on a production-normalized basis
Barn type
Utility
Basis
Diesel
(gal)
Electricity
(kWh)
Propane
Broiler1
0.5564
86.99
12.055
Per 1000 kg LW
Breeder2
0.1652
17.88
0.0031
Per 1000 eggs
Pullet2
4.0043
650.3
96.101
Per 1000 pullets
1Production-weighted averages
2Only includes data from Dunkley et al (Georgia)

12. Fraction of litter from
Poultry Litter
Disposal transaction
Fraction of litter from
 Classification
Broilers1
Breeders2
Sold
50.0%
36.3%
Coproduct
Hauled off for fee
3.20%
4.2%
Waste
Bartered
36.1%
39.0%
Residual
Given away
10.7%
20.5%
1 USDA 2011
2 APHIS 2011
Litter as a coproduct, a residual, and a waste, with burdens distributed according to economics of its removal from the barn
US Poultry industry national averages for 2010 to determine the distributions
Biophysical allocation used when litter is a coproduct

13. Life Cycle Impact Assessment
Summary of Results
Feed rations account for 70-94% of the impacts
Grandparent generation accounts for < 1%
Spent hens account for ~4% of impacts
Life Cycle Impact Assessment
GWP, water depletion, non-renewable energy use, and land occupation considered key performance indicators (KPIs) for US poultry industry

14. Results by Functional Unit
Impact category
Unit
Poultry meat
Contribution from
Broilers
Spent Hens
IPCC GWP 100a
kg CO2e
1435
1372 63
Non renewable energy MJ
14457
13847
611
Water Depletion m3
117
112 5
Ag. land occupation
m2a
3251
3118
133
GWP: 4.4% hens
NRE: 4.2%
WD: 4.3%
ALO: 4.1%

15. Production Phase Contributions
Impact category Broilers Parents Grandparents
IPCC GWP 100a % 9.42% 0.08%
Non renewable, fossil % 9.02% 0.08%
Water Depletion % 8.88% 0.08%
Ag land occupation % 8.76% 0.07%

16. Impacts by Sources Contributing > 1%

17. Impacts by Source, Continued

18. Comparison to other studies
Impact Category
Functional unit
Year
Country
Energy Use (MJ)
GWP
(kg CO2e)
Land occupation (m2a)
Water depletion (m3)
Source
1000kg LW broiler
2006 US
14959
1395 X
Pelletier, N
2010 FR
19100
2220
6617
da Silva et al 2014
BRA
18000
2060
3603
"
1000kg chicken meat
2012
187
Mekonnen and Hoekstra
2011
DEN
1810
Nielsen et al 2011 UK
17759
3087
3920
3.087
Leinonen et al. 2012
2009
12790
2015
2687
Agri-BALYSE
1000kg LW poultry
8400
3199
4480
Williams et al 2006
13988
1386
3150
113
This study
1000kg LW Poultry
14457
1435
3251
117

19. Interpretation So what?
Sensitivity analysis – How does the model respond to methodological changes?
Conclusions – What does it all mean?
Future work – Where do we go from here?
Interpretation
Identify the forces driving the results and determine their associated sensitivity and uncertainty. Evaluate the completeness of the study, its limitations, and draw conclusions.

20. Sensitivity Analysis: Crop Byproduct Allocation
allocated crop byproduct burdens by their mass and price (economic allocation), in addition to their mass- adjusted energy content (the chosen standard)
In general, mass increased impact, economic decreased
The method of byproduct allocation was shown not to affect conclusions
Water depletion is in units of 100L because m3 made those results too small compared with the others and liters made them too large.

21. Sensitivity Analysis: Litter Application Emissions
Litter as coproduct, residual, or waste in comparison to a distribution of all three
Highlights the influence from litter application emissions
The differences between modeling litter as a residual and a waste only affect GWP, therefore the other three KPIs are unaffected in those scenarios

22. Future works Further analysis Retrospective analysis
Sensitivity analysis
Ration optimization
More impact categories
Retrospective analysis
Manuscript under review
Update model for 2015
In progress
Poultry Production Calculator
Broiler feed is largest contributor, so what do we do about it?
FCR:
Genetics
Operations
Nutrition