Optimising Nutrition for Sustainable Pig Production: Strategies to Quantify and Mitigate Environmental Impacts

The intensifying global demand for food presents significant challenges for sustainable pig production, particularly in the context of escalating input costs, environmental degradation, and resource scarcity. Life Cycle Assessment provides a comprehensive framework for quantifying environmental impacts and identifying production hotspots within pig production systems. Feed production and manure management are consist-ently identified as major contributors, emphasising the need for targeted interventions to improve sustainability. Although soybean meal remains a key protein source, its asso-ciation with deforestation and biodiversity loss has prompting the search for more sus-tainable alternatives. In temperate climates, faba beans offer a promising, locally sourced option, though their wider adoption is limited by amino acid imbalances and an-ti-nutritional factors. Grain preservation is another critical consideration, as post-harvest losses and fungal contamination compromise feed quality and animal health. Organic acid preservation has emerged as a cost-effective, energy-efficient alternative to industrial drying, improving storage stability while reducing fossil fuel dependence. Additional nutritional strategies including crude protein reduction, carbohydrate source modifica-tion, feed additives use, and maternal nutritional interventions can enhance nutrient utilisation, intestinal health, and resilience while mitigating environmental impacts. This review discusses practical, feed-based strategies to support sustainable, resilient, and resource efficient pig production systems and contribute to global food security.