The objective of this project is to track and measure the flow of resources in a sector of the UK food production industry in order to identify a strategy for the reduction of its impact on the environment. The pig industry has been chosen as a sector for study because of the comparatively small number of business involved and the relatively uniform nature of production and processing installations.

The information gathered for this report encompasses all aspects of mainstream pig production from feed production through the breeding and growing of the stock, to the production of carcasses and base ingredients for pet food. Energy use will be covered throughout the supply chain to the end use of products in domestic and commercial catering.

The key outcomes of this study are:

• To identify inputs to and outputs from the production system
• To gain an understanding of consumption of energy and materials and the volume and nature of waste arising
• To establish a set of benchmarks for environmental practice
• To identify the scope for sustainable improvement so that overall progress in industry performance can be identified
• To produce a set of results that can be used to enable companies to judge their own performance in a range of activities against comprehensive, consistent and qualified data