INTERPORC brings the Sustainability Strategy of the Spanish pig sector to students
The Spanish white layer pig sector "is a success story that is set as an example throughout the world due to its triple economic, social and environmental sustainability". A production model studied in multiple forums and which has been the focus of the presentation given by Alberto Herranz, director of INTERPORC in these courses.
In his master class, Herranz has listed the advances in sustainability of the Spanish pig sector, which have outlined an image totally removed from that of past times. Today, Spanish farms, he has explained, “are a paradigm of what is called modern livestock. Highly technical facilities, with the highest animal welfare standard in the world and at the forefront of biosafety and sustainability, which has allowed great achievements to be made in matters such as animal health and the fight against diseases”.
"This work has laid a foundation that drives Spanish pigs towards triple economic, social and environmental sustainability", stated the director of INTERPORC. A reality that is based on innumerable data that confirm these results.
For example, in environmental sustainability, Herranz recalled that "there are more and more farms supplied by renewable energy, solar, thermal or photovoltaic, as well as self-supplied through biodigestion of slurry by cogeneration." They are magnificent examples of circular economy that translate into a lower environmental impact by generating less methane and CO2”.
These improvements in productive efficiency, together with "the application of processes such as the reduce-reuse binomial, has led us, for example, to reduce the use of water per kilo of meat produced by 30% in 30 years."
Herranz has stressed that “today we only generate 2.43% of Spain's GHG emissions according to the MITECO National Inventory of Greenhouse Gases. We are very far from the double-digit figures of other sectors and we are working to continue advancing in this matter”.
The director of INTERPORC has stressed that these data are neither private opinions nor do they come from internal studies of the sector or from work carried out with dubious methodology. These are figures that "are based on scientific reality and are official figures from public organizations and administrations."
In addition, Herranz has highlighted that "even more importantly, these results reflect the environmental success of the sector, and the will of all its companies and professionals to tirelessly influence this path".
In this regard, he recalled that INTERPORC, representing the Spanish white-coated pig sector, is part of the Spanish Network of the United Nations Global Compact, where it is already actively working on 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a strategy that underpins sustainability throughout the value chain. "The objective that we have set for ourselves is the neutral climate impact in 2050 in line with the provisions of the European Green Pact", explained Herranz.
For all these reasons, he has concluded that "Spanish pig farming is part of the solution to curb climate change".
Regarding social and economic sustainability, the director of INTERPORC stated that “today it is indisputable that we are an essential sector for the Spanish economy, to which we contribute a positive trade balance of 7,720 million euros and 415,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs mainly where it is most needed, in rural areas”.
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