June 7, 2006

Canada to test greenhouse gas quantification protocol

The Canadian Pork Council is testing 40 hog farms across Canada to test greenhouse gas quantification protocol developed for the pork industry.

The greenhouse gas quantification protocol is a package of formulas designed to calculate greenhouse gas generated by environmentally-friendly hog farms in Canada.

The plan has been under development since early 2004 and is expected for widespread introduction soon.

Each farm's records would be examined to compare current emission to its 2000 emissions baseline to determine its emission reductions, said Canadian Pork Council environmental programmes coordinator Cedric MacLeod.

The protocol allows researchers to bring all of the factors together and analyse the entire farm as a unit so that a figure can be derived from the protocol.