The document discusses intensive animal production in Portugal, focusing on sustainability challenges. It provides an overview of major animal industries in Portugal including poultry and pig production. It then outlines several constraints on intensive animal production in Portugal, such as economic factors, climatic conditions, legislation, and environmental issues. Specific climate data for the Alentejo region is presented to illustrate temperature extremes. Finally, the document describes several projects by Évora University aimed at improving sustainability, including increasing energy efficiency (InPEC-ENERGY), adopting circular economy principles to reduce waste (ALENTEJO CIRCULAR), and implementing precision livestock farming using sensors (AWARTECH).

1. SUSTAINABILITY OF INTENSIVE ANIMAL
HOUSING IN PORTUGAL
V. Fitas da Cruz & F. Baptista
Rural Engineering Department,
Évora University - Portugal
vfc@uevora.pt fb@uevora.pt

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CONTENTS
1. Brief overview of intensive animal production in Portugal
2. Sustainability of Livestock Farming
3. Some constrains for Portuguese intensive animal production
4. Sustainable design of livestock housing
5. Projects developed by Évora University

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BRIEF OVERVIEW OF ANIMAL PRODUCTION IN PORTUGAL
• Poultry production
– 6,7% of national agriculture product;
– 20.254.000 broilers (60% of total poultry);
– Beira Litoral and Ribatejo e Oeste
(Coastal areas);
– Portugal is self sufficient in poultry meat.

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BRIEF OVERVIEW OF ANIMAL PRODUCTION IN PORTUGAL
• Pig production
– 8,5% of national agriculture product;
– Around 1.900.000 of pigs;
– Ribatejo e Oeste – 35%;
– Alentejo (Inland área) – 45%;
– Beira Litoral – 15%.

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SUSTAINABILITY OF LIVESTOCK FARMING
SUSTAINABILITY
CLIMATIC
CONDITIONS
LEGISLATION
ENVIRONMENTAL
QUESTIONS
SYSTEM
PROFITABILITY

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SOME CONSTRAINS FOR PORTUGUESE INTENSIVE ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
• Economic factors
– Financial difficulties faced by farmers (undercapitalization);
– Competitive edge with farmers from other countries due to open
market, from European and other countries outside Europe;
– Low amount of total production (small size of the national herds).

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SOME CONSTRAINS FOR PORTUGUESE INTENSIVE ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
• Climatic conditions
– Mediterranean Climate
• Moderate cold and wet Winter;
• Dry and hot Summer with high amount of solar radiation
(particularly in Alentejo and Northeastern regions)
• Heterogeneous areas
– Coastal zone vs Inland zones.

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SOME CONSTRAINS FOR PORTUGUESE INTENSIVE
ANIMAL PRODUCTION
(Winter) (Summer)

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SOME CONSTRAINS FOR PORTUGUESE INTENSIVE ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
• Climatic conditions
– Reference values for environmental control of livestock and poultry
Extreme
Critical
Acceptable
Optimum

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SOME CONSTRAINS FOR PORTUGUESE INTENSIVE ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
– In Alentejo…
• Summer – hot and dry (average maximum temperatures in the warmer months,
July and August, reaches 30ᵒC);
• Winter – cold and wet (average minimum temperatures in the last months,
December and January, are around 6ᵒC).

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SOME CONSTRAINS FOR PORTUGUESE INTENSIVE ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
. .
. . . .
Alentejo Region MAXIMUM DESIGN TEMPERATURE (ᵒC)
SUMMER
June 2016 33,4
July 2016 38,3
August 2016 38,2
September 2016 34,6

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SOME CONSTRAINS FOR PORTUGUESE INTENSIVE ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
. .
. . . .
Alentejo Region MINIMUM DESIGN TEMPERATURE (ᵒC)
WINTER
November 2016 5,6
December 2016 4,1
January 2017 1,6
February 2015 2,7

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SOME CONSTRAINS FOR PORTUGUESE INTENSIVE ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
Alentejo Region DAYS HOURS
T > 30 ᵒC T < 10 ᵒC T > 35 ᵒC T < 5 ᵒC
SUMMER
June 2016 18 20
July 2016 31 108
August 2016 31 100
September 2016 21 37
WINTER
November 2016 22 23
December 2016 29 79
January 2017 29 182
February 2015 28 ---------

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SOME CONSTRAINS FOR PORTUGUESE INTENSIVE ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
INADEQUATE TEMPERATURES
INFLUENCE ON ANIMAL
WELFARE AND PRODUTION
NEED FOR MONITORING
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL

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SOME CONSTRAINS FOR PORTUGUESE INTENSIVE ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
• Legislation and regulation
– Adoption of European Union rules that are very restrictive and
effective:
• NREAP - Decreto-Lei n.º 81/2013
Other legislation related with NREAP specific for each system of production and
for each kind of animal product;
• Regulation for buildings (design and constructions rules);
• Regulation for Animal Health (disease preventions) and Food Security;
• Environmental protection, code of good agriculture practices, Best
Available Techniques;
• Animal Welfare Regulation, that are is permissive in some aspects but very
restrictive and not well adapted to warm climates in other aspects.

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SOME CONSTRAINS FOR PORTUGUESE INTENSIVE ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
• Environmental questions
– 3 R’s: Constrain or opportunity?
• Reducing the amount of waste you
produce is the best way to help the
environment;
• Instead of throwing things away, try to find
ways to use them again (Reuse);
• Recycled items are put through a process
that makes it possible to create new
products out of the materials from the old
ones.
RECYCLE
REUSE
REDUCE

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SUSTAINABLE DESIGN OF LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY HOUSING
MUST
INCLUDE
Animal Welfare vs Production
Environmental Control
(Energy Efficiency)
3R’s
(Waste management)

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Meanwhile in Alentejo zone
• Area where many farming activities are concentrated:
OLIVE OIL
PRODUCTION
ANIMAL
PRODUCTION
WINE
PRODUCTION
- PIGS AND POULTRY
- BEEF CATTLE
- DAIRY CAATLE
- SHEEP AND GOAT

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PROJECTS DEVELOPED BY ÉVORA UNIVERSITY
ALENTEJO CIRCULAR
AWARTE
CH
InPec-ENERGY
ALENTEJO
CIRCULAR
AWARTECH
ALENTEJO CIRCULAR

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InPEC-ENERGY
• Modern livestock companies (poultry and pig farming) have high
energy consumption (electric and thermal), representing a significant
share of the production costs;
• Production cost of 1 kg of meat tends to increase in the coming
years;
• Companies potential to increase the efficiency of resource use, in
particular energy, by optimizing economic/competitiveness efficiency
and viability;
• Equipment (sensors, automation, etc.) and technologies (renewable
energies, ICT, etc.) with potential to enhance the sustainability of the
sector;

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InPEC-ENERGY
• GOALS:
– Integrate information of energy consumption needs
– Production of Renewable Energy in order to reduce the
economic impact of energy in the production
WITH

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ALENTEJO CIRCULAR
• According the current LINEAR ECONOMIC MODEL for the agricultural
and agri-food sectors
31%
69%
FOOD (Europe)
Wasted Consumed
9% Farming production
4%Post-harvest, handling and
storage
5% Processing and packaging
3% Distribution
11% Consumer
STRUCTURAL WASTE IN
FOOD PRODUCTION
UN FAO, Global Food Losses and Food Waste, 2011

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ALENTEJO CIRCULAR
• THE CIRCULAR ECONOMIC MODEL: The necessary paradigm shift!
(Ellen MacArthur Foundation)
Rethinking current ways of
producing and consuming:
- Optimize flows of goods;
- Maximize resource utilization;
- Minimize waste generation;
- Maximize economic value of products
and services;
- Preserving natural capital;
- Reduce risk/negative externalities.
COMPETITIVENESS AND VALUE CREATION
IN COMPANIES

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ALENTEJO CIRCULAR
• Transition to the CIRCULAR ECONOMY in agricultural and
agroindustry sectors
Diagnose the current situation
Identify best practices
Analyze opportunities and barriers
Inform, sensitize, listen the industry
players and other stakeholders
Promote communication and
knowledge sharing

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ALENTEJO CIRCULAR
• GOAL:
– Sensitize and mobilize Alentejo economic agents in the sectors of
olive oil, wine and pig’s farming.
– It was launched on November 14th and aims the creation of
values in agricultural and agro-industrial farms through the
transfer of knowledge concerning practices and technologies for
an efficient use of resources and recover of waste.
Adoption of the Circular Economy model!

26. Development of a tool for Precision Livestock farming to support the
sustainability of the pig value chain.
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AWARTECH
Specificity of
production
Market
imperfections
Globalization
• GOALS:
– Measure and evaluate a set of environmental variables and
physiological characteristics in order to minimize its impact on
animal welfare and its impact on economic of livestock farming.

27. • Started in September 2016
• GOALS:
– Development of methodologies for record information in animals, in
real time;
– Test equipment and methodology;
– Integrate all information recorded in an algorithm to develop an
environmental control software;
– Analyze the profitability of the use of this software and equipment;
– Transference of knowledge to the stakeholders;
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AWARTECH

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Information recorded Analytical system
28
(IoAHT or manually)
Correlation of data to provide predictive analyzes and the development
of simulation models with the aim of improving animal welfare and
productive efficiency in each livestock farming production.
AWARTECH

• GOALS:
– Study conditions of replication of the platform that allows
adaptation to other contexts (animal or regions).
“HOW?”

29. AWARTECH
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30. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!!
Lille – February 22nd, 23rd, 24th 2017
Livestock housing : let’s build the future