Purpose: The purpose of this project is to mitigate and recover animal effluent related GHG by improving AWMS practices.

Worldwide, agricultural operations are becoming progressively more intensive to realize economies of production and scale. The pressure to become more efficient drives significant operational similarities between farms of a “type,” as inputs, outputs, practices, genetics, and technology have become similar around the world.

This is especially true in livestock operations (swine, dairy cows, etc.) which can create profound environmental consequences, such as greenhouse gas emissions, odour, and water/land contamination (including seepage, runoff, and over application), that result from storing (and disposing of) animal waste. Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) use similar Animal Waste Management System (AWMS) options to store animal effluent. These systems emit both methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) resulting from both aerobic and anaerobic decomposition processes. This project proposes to apply the Methane Recovery methodology identified in Section III.D, of the Indicative Simplified Baseline and Monitoring Methodologies for Small-Scale CDM Project Activity Categories, to swine CAFOs located in Jalisco and Michoacán, México. The proposed project activities will mitigate and recover AWMS GHG emissions in an economically sustainable manner, and will result in other environmental benefits, such as improved water quality and reduced odour. In simple terms, the project proposes to move from a high-GHG AWMS practice, an open air lagoon, to a lower-GHG AWMS practice, an ambient temperature anaerobic digester with capture and combustion of resulting biogas. Contribution to sustainable development:

In January, 2000, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations began a two-year project in Central México to study the effects of pork production operations on the environment.1 The project revealed issues which require immediate attention. In some operations, residuals are discharged into receiving bodies (land or water) without previous treatment. In other farms, management practices and treatment systems are inadequate, resulting in contamination higher than allowable limits. When residuals are applied to agricultural land, they are generally applied to the surface and not homogenously distributed in the soil. Further, nutrient content from such application is not normally considered to aid in the reduction of inorganic fertilizers.

Establishing a positive model for livestock operations is essential. In the last ten years, Mexican swine production grew by 28%. In 2003, the swine population in México was 14,625,199.2 In 2003, the swine population of Jalisco and Michoacán was approximately 2.9 million heads.3 Considering that a typical hog produces 5.8 kilograms of effluent daily (Table A1), some 6.1 million metric tons of hog waste is produced annually in Jalisco and Michoacán alone. Introducing progressive AWMS practices throughout these states has the potential to reduce approximately 2.6 million tonnes4 of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) each year. Table A1. Daily production of effluent by type of porcine5

       Manure            Manure and            Volume                Volume

Stage

m3/animal/month

       kg/day            Urine kg/day         litres/day

1. 3 4.9 7.0 .25

25-100 kg

2. 6 11.0 16.0 .48

Gestating sows

1. 4 18.0 27.0 .81

Nursing sows

2. 0 6.0 9.0 .28

Boar pig

1. 35 0.95 1.4 .05

Piglet

2. 35 5.8 8.6 .27

Average

The proper handling of this large quantity of CAFO animal waste is critical to protecting human health and the environment. Because of the practices employed by farmers, the design, location, and management of livestock operations are critical components in ensuring an adequate level of protection of human health and the environment.6

This methane recovery project activity will upgrade livestock operations infrastructure. The infrastructure improvement is in direct alignment with President Vicente Fox’s national goals and objectives for agriculture, livestock, rural development, fishing and nutrition as outlined in the Mexican government’s Plan Nacional de Desarrollo, 2001 –2006 (National Development Plan, 2001 -2006).7 This project activity will also have positive effects on the local environment by improving air quality (i.e., reducing the emission of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and odour) and will set the stage for future on-farm projects (i.e., changes in land application practices) that will have an additional positive impact on GHG emissions with an attendant potential for reducing groundwater contamination problems. This project activity will also increase local employment of skilled labour for the fabrication, installation, operation and maintenance of the specialized equipment. Finally, this voluntary project activity will establish a model for world-class, scalable animal waste management practices, which can be duplicated on other CAFO livestock farms throughout México, dramatically reducing livestock related GHG and providing the potential for a new source of revenue and green power.

The proposed methane recovery project uniquely satisfies the Mexican government priorities for environmental stewardship and sustainability while positioning rural agricultural operations to develop and use renewable (“green”) power. Indeed, it does so with no negative consequences and with a series of environmental and infrastructure co-benefits.

Because the proposed project establishes an advanced AWMS the project participants believe the farm managers will adopt – and continue to practice – AWMS practice changes that result in meaningful, and permanent, GHG emission reductions beyond the project’s expected lifespan.