Feeding pigs a diet with a high rye content promotes animal health and leads to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions from livestock farming. With this in mind, KWS has jointly developed a sustainable feeding concept for pigs with the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover, based on the results of the federally funded 6-R project1. Its implementation can reduce CO2 emissions by around 20 to 30 percent up until slaughter. That’s because rye is more resource-efficient to grow than other crops. KWS has now received official ISO 14064-2 certification for this forward-looking feeding concept.
“The climate platform serves to identify the main contributors to CO2 emissions in agriculture and the meat industry, adjust the individual components and thus improve the balance,” says Andreas von Felde, who has international responsibility for the area of animal feed at KWS. “With the successful certification of the 6-R concept, KWS has assumed responsibility for an important part of this value chain and brought everyone involved closer to the targeted industry solution for 2025.” Livestock farming that promotes animal welfare and health, and the sustainable production of food are a social requirement. Food retailers in particular therefore expect sustainable meat production from the industry. In addition to feeding, other aspects such as how the animals are reared, farm management, energy consumption and much more have a major influence on the CO2 balance. All components are now being scrutinized in order to identify potential for improvement and limit the carbon footprint.
Emission-reduced animal feeding makes an important contribution to safeguarding livestock farming in Germany and Europe, and to lowering the ecological footprint of food production. Supporting sustainable nutrition is part of the KWS 2030 Sustainability Ambition, in which the company has set ambitious, measurable targets for itself to deliver solutions for sustainable farming into the future. With a broad product portfolio of crops and digital tools, KWS is developing solutions for sustainable, resource-efficient and economical animal feeding in its Seed2FEED program.
1: 6-R: “Regionale Renaissance von Roggen und Raps zur Reduktion von Problemen in Pflanzenbau und Tierproduktion durch Reevaluation der Inhaltsstoffe und deren gezielte Nutzung zur Förderung des Umwelt-, Tier- und Verbraucherschutzes” (Regional renaissance of rye and oilseed rape to reduce problems in crop and livestock production through the reevaluation of substances and their systematic use to support environmental, animal and consumer protection). The 6-R concept was developed by Prof. Josef Kamphues (University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover) and is used today as the basis for a rye-rich diet.