Sustainable swine production: reducing environmental impacts through cropping systems and manure management

This review synthesizes current knowledge on the life cycle assessment (LCA) of swine production systems, emphasizing nutrient management, nitrous oxide (N₂O) mitigation, and manure treatment strategies that enhance sustainability. Although swine are not the largest contributors to agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, their environmental footprint remains substantial due to feed production and manure management. Integrated nutrient management-through precision nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) application-combined with manure reuse, can significantly reduce N losses, improve soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration, and mitigate N₂O emissions. Emerging manure treatment technologies such as composting, anaerobic digestion (AD), and biochar production also offer co-benefits of nutrient recovery and energy generation. The review highlights that integrating these strategies within regenerative agricultural systems-using practices like reduced tillage, cover cropping, and circular bioeconomy approaches-improves soil health, minimizes GHG emissions, and promotes resilient crop-livestock systems. Overall, this synthesis underscores that coupling nutrient management with innovative manure treatment and emission-mitigation technologies is essential for advancing the sustainability of swine production and reducing its environmental impact.