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“This study showed a reduction of nearly 80% in nonrenewable energy use to produce one market pig in Iowa today, compared to 1975, which was the last time this topic was examined,” says Mark Honeyman, animal science professor and coordinator of Iowa State’s research farms.
The greatest use of nonrenewable energy in pig production comes from growing the feed, researchers found. About 50% of the nonrenewable energy associated with growing and processing a typical corn-soybean meal diet is due to synthetic nitrogen fertilizer for corn production.
In short, although conventional facilities take more energy to operate fans, lights and heaters, the amount of energy related to crop production is slightly less when compared to hoop barn-based pig production.
http://nationalhogfarmer.com/facilities-equipment/hog-farms-drop-nonrenewable-energy-1007/
