Carbon footprint of meat. Case study

Abstract

This work analyzes the Carbon Footprint of beef production, with field rearing and rearing plus fattening in feedlot, in a circular economy system, in the southeast of San Luis, for three categories of animals: male TBeef, female TBeef and GOMBU. The functional unit is 1 kilogram of boneless frozen beef, red Aberdeen Angus breed, packed and placed in the export port. Breeding takes place in natural and implanted pastures. Weaning is at 6 months (150 kg for females and 185 kg for males). Rearing is carried out in a corral and lasts 105 days for males (up to 299 kg) and 135 days for females (up to 305 kg). Fattening is carried out in feedlot and lasts 180 days for the TBeef male (up to 503 kg), 210 days for the TBeef females (up to 502 kg) and 285 days for GOMBU (up to 606 kg). The Carbon Footprint resulted in 21.6 kgCO2eq for the male TBeef, 24.0 kgCO2eq for the female TBeef, and 20.3 kgCO2eq for GOMBU. The hotspot is enteric fermentation, which represents between 63% -65% of the total impact. The female TBeef has the largest footprint, because it requires more rearing and fattening days to reach the same sales weight as the male TBeef, which implies the greatest use of resources and more days of emissions from enteric fermentation and manure management. The category with the lowest emissions is GOMBU, since it is fattened up to the final 606 kg, so that the total impact of its production is divided into a higher final weight.