Life cycle assessment of alternative swine management practices.

Life cycle assessment of various alternative management strategies in the swine industry was performed to evaluate their impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, cumulative energy use, and cumulative water use. The management strategies included the use of immunocastration (IC), production without ractopamine (NoRAC), production without antimicrobials used for either growth promotion (NoAGP) or disease prevention (NoPREV), production of entire males (boars) (EM), and use of gestation pens (PENS). A common baseline scenario representing standard management practices in the swine industry was created against which all alternative management practices were compared pairwise.

Spatiotemporal variation of bacterial water quality and the relationship with pasture land cover.

Pathogens are a major cause of water quality impairment and public health concern world-wide. In the United States, each state is tasked with developing water quality standards (WQS) to protect the designated use(s) of waterbodies. Several streams in the Illinois River Watershed in northwest Arkansas are currently listed as impaired due to elevated levels of pathogens.