The department with the most dairy cows (son 89,213) and with more milk production (640,630,237 liters per year) it is also the one that best manages environmental care. This is Florida, a department that produces 30% of the country’s milk, if we take into account that Uruguay produces 2,245 million liters per year, according to data from the National Milk Institute (Inale).
In that department the residual production loads are lower than those found in other departments where milk is produced.for its effluent management systems, a technology that allows the wastewater generated in dairies not to go directly into the waterways, but to be stored and then “go into the field with fertilizing power”, explained Juan Pablo Bergalli, manager of the Department of Environment Control and Performance Area of the National Directorate for Quality and Environmental Assessment of the Ministry of the Environment (MA).
These data were shared in the presentation of the indicators of the Environmental footprint of livestockcarried out by the Ministries of the Environment and of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP).
Impact indicators
Bergalli indicated that in the industrial livestock sector, the discharge of waste water and the production of waste are two of the most important environmental aspects.
In that sense, he said it in the case of the refrigeration industry, 146,839 tons of waste are produced per year.
Furthermore, in this sector of the meat supply chain, 6,362,227 m3 of water per year, which is equivalent to 24% of what is consumed in the first paper mill installed in the country (by UPM, in Fray Bentos).
Another aspect the expert drew attention to is soil erosion caused by livestock production: 24 million tons of soil are lost per year due to erosion on livestock farmshe recalled, also stressing that in the production of livestock there’s a average of 3,000 kilos of erosion per animaldetailed.
Analia Pereira
In the refrigeration sector 146,839 tons of waste are generated per year.
global climate problems
The head of the MGAP, Fernando Mattos, highlighted at the opening of the business that “The world’s climate problems are not generated by agricultural production, they are generated by man”and said the government seeks to “generate environmental value” in manufacturing.
Speaking of environmental impacts, the incidence of greenhouse gases has not escaped consideration.
The national average of greenhouse gas production per kilogram of beef produced is 18.56 kg and for sheep meat it is 18.41 kg.said Felipe García, deputy coordinator of the project at FAO Uruguay.
In the case of the dairy, the “national footprint” is 989 grams of CO2 / kg of milk produced.
If you think about the industrial process, the average emission of greenhouse gases per kilogram of slaughtered meat is 9 g and 2.7 g in the case of industrialized milk.
Emissions vary according to the area of the country where the production is located. Northfor instance, the largest emissions of these gasbecause the conditions of the soil allow a production “a little less efficient and a little slower and for this reason the animals end up emitting more gas to produce the same amount of meat”, explained García.
If emissions are measured by grazing area, the results are different: where there are more emissions is in the coast, in the south and in the center of the country, where more cattle are concentrated per hectare, he indicated.
Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP
The national average of greenhouse gas production per kilo of beef produced is 18.56 kg.
In the activity, which was attended by government authorities, including the President of the Republic Luis Lacalle Pou, it was highlighted that measuring the environmental footprint of animal production will allow better decisions to be made in the development of public policies.
Environment Minister Adrián Peña said: “Uruguay must be richer, it must generate more and better quality employment and this is why, to be able to produce more, to be able to live better, but without destroying us, this is very important for a food producing country”.
At this link you can read the complete report on the Environmental Footprint of Livestock.
