Environmental performance of Italian heavy pig production systems using farm-level regulatory data

Italian heavy pig production plays a major economic role within the national livestock sector but faces increasing environmental pressure due to greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient losses. This study assessed the environmental performance of Italian heavy pig production systems using technical and environmental data routinely collected for compliance with the Industrial Emissions Directive and the Nitrates Directive. A life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was applied to 21 commercial pig farms located in Northern Italy, representative of the main production systems, including breeding-site (BS), finishing-site (FS), and farrow-to-finish (FTF) farms. Environmental impacts were evaluated across multiple functional units, with particular focus on global warming potential (GWP), acidification, and eutrophication. Average GWP values amounted to 5.96 ± 1.93 kg CO2 eq kg−1 body weight (BW), 6.58 ± 1.18 kg CO2 eq kg−1 light pig BW, and 5.51 ± 0.93 kg CO2 eq kg−1 heavy pig BW. Feed production represented the main environmental hotspot across all impact categories, accounting for approximately 68% of total GWP per kg BW. Differences among production systems were primarily associated with structural and management characteristics rather than with manure management technology class. Although the relatively limited sample size reduced the statistical power of some comparisons, the study highlighted that routinely collected regulatory data may support robust, ISO-compliant environmental assessment under commercial farming conditions, providing a scalable framework for the evaluation of Italian heavy pig production systems.