Beyond compliance: A practical path to lower-carbon swine production
Reducing carbon emissions at farm level doesn’t have to mean lower productivity or major investment. In many systems, the biggest gains come from targeting feed-related hotspots, such as using nutrients more precisely, reducing land-use-change ingredients, and safely increasing low-footprint by-products. Incremental improvements in feeding and day-to-day management can add up. With better information, producers can cut the farm’s footprint while strengthening business resilience through volatile feed markets, fluctuating pig prices, and the impact of climate change.
Reducing emissions strategically is the intent behind Trouw Nutrition’s Carbon Reduction Programme (CRP) Swine, powered by MyFeedPrint and MyPorkPrint. The programme helps the industry reduce emissions while improving productivity and profitability. It isn’t an ‘either/or’. Even in efficient systems, small, well-targeted changes can pay back first on the farm, through better efficiency, lower cost per kilogramme, and greater resilience. These improvements can then be scaled across the supply chain into measurable progress for processors and retailers.
A roadmap: Navigate, sustain, succeed
The program is built around 3 simple ideas: navigate, sustain, and succeed. Each idea is described below.
First, we navigate by helping producers and their partners establish a clear baseline and priorities, so the highest-impact hotspots in a specific system are visible. This step often starts with feed footprint drivers such as land-use change and ingredient selection. However, participants can start at different points depending on the maturity of their system – from first measurement and hotspot identification to scenario planning and implementation. Support from Trouw Nutrition’s advisors and nutritional experts help farms navigate these decisions.
Second, sustain: CRP Swine focuses on reductions that remain robust through volatility, raw material variability, price swings, and climate-related disruptions. This is achieved by translating changing inputs into practical formulation and management decisions without compromising productivity.
Third, succeed: The program is designed to deliver verified footprint reductions alongside strong technical performance and financial outcomes. This approach results in carbon reduction progress that is achieved with, not at the expense of, farm competitiveness.
What CRP Swine is, and who it is for
CRP Swine is a support programme for reducing emissions from pig production while keeping farms competitive. Bringing together the latest knowledge on nutritional strategies and on-farm solutions, from early-life frameworks and gut health support to precision nutrition, the offering is underpinned by science-backed research and practical implementation support (training, troubleshooting, farm management and nutrition advice, and life cycle assessment expertise).
One of the main features that sets the approach apart is its built-in decision support system. Reporting tools to track footprints are essential, but impact requires scenario planning. The solution uses footprint data to test options, predict outcomes, and guide stakeholders to interventions that fit their system, reducing emissions while protecting productivity and profitability.
From baseline to better decisions: MyPorkPrint and MyFeedPrint
Good business starts with a clear baseline. MyPorkPrint quantifies current emissions, pinpoints hotspots, and shows how changes in management or nutrition shift results. Producers and advisors can act, remeasure, and scale only what proves to work across the system.
Feed is typically the largest share of a pig’s environmental footprint, so granular ingredient and volume data matters. MyFeedPrint quantifies the footprint of specific ingredients and delivered volumes. The tool then builds on the quantified footprint for more accurate reporting and better decisions on formulation, raw material selection, and feeding strategy.
There are 4 practical levers for achieving measurable carbon reduction.
Make precision nutrition the main engine of reduction.
For many systems, the biggest opportunity sits in feed formulation and feeding strategy. Key opportunities to cut emissions include lowering land-use change and the overall footprint of the diet through smarter ingredient choices, including higher use of liquid and dry rest- and by-products or former foodstuffs where appropriate. To use these ingredients safely and effectively, accurate knowledge of their nutritional value and variability is essential, so diets remain precise and performance is protected.
Trouw Nutrition brings multiple, connected capabilities into that decision. NIRS offers rapid insight into raw material quality providing the data needed to precisely formulate every time. NutriOpt-based formulation translates that variability into more precise consistent diets by using the latest scientific knowledge. Kinetio enables a shift from ingredient- to nutrient-based formulation by integrating the digestion kinetics of protein, starch and fibre, allowing more precise use of alternative ingredients. Watson provides simulation and optimisation capabilities to test “what-if” scenarios for a specific farm. This allows users to consider unique combinations of farm conditions, leading to better and faster decision-making without costly trials.
Invest early to improve lifetime efficiency.
Birthweight, weaning weight, and a successful transition post-weaning set the trajectory for efficiency at the grow finisher stage, where it matters most. Early-life programmes such as Milkiwean, supported by Kinetio’s digestibility technologies (fibre, starch, and protein optimisation based on the kinetics of digestion), aim to improve gut development and performance consistency while smoothing weaning.
Protect gut health to stabilise performance.
A strong health status improves nutrient utilisation, drives efficiency and reduces variability, both of which support lower emissions per kilogramme of liveweight. Gut health solutions (including water-based options in grow-finish) can help herds cope with multi-age systems and stressors while supporting less need for antibiotics.
Use responsible minerals to make small changes with meaningful effects.
Minerals are a small part of the diet, but precision matters. Responsibly formulated mineral solutions are designed to match animal requirements more closely, supporting feed efficiency while reducing excretion into the environment. An example is IntelliBond, which has a product footprint listed in the GFLI database. The listing and precise formulation support more transparent footprint accounting in feed while improving animal performance.
All inputs come together in MyPorkPrint, where scenarios are evaluated on both carbon and economics, so sustainability, performance, and profitability move together. Some choices cut emissions but can shift cost (e.g., low-soy diets), while others move emissions upstream (e.g., pelleted vs meal feed) yet still improve the total outcome on farm through better performance and feed conversion. CRP Swine supports producers by turning data into practical actions in feeding, health, and daily routines. Because the best solution is farm-specific (considering health status, stocking density, raw materials, and market conditions), the programme helps combine the right levers, from precision nutrition to early-life support, gut health, and responsible minerals, into one coherent plan.
Value that scales across the chain
Because stewardship works best when the value chain works together, the programme is designed to support the entire value chain: farmers, advisors, home mixers, integrated systems, feed producers, processors, and retailers. At farm level, it starts with a tailored action plan grounded in sound data and practical support. At feed production level, it requires granular insight into diets and volumes. And at processor and retailer level, it provides a credible basis for reporting and actioning change for the most effective on-farm interventions.
Ultimately, carbon reduction in swine production does not have to be a story of disruption. When producers are equipped to measure, model, act, and remeasure, they can make better-informed decisions and track whether changes are delivering the intended outcomes. In that sense, CRP Swine supports a practical, continuous improvement approach that reduces emissions intensity while helping farms maintain profitability and performance in ever-changing conditions.
