The Waste-Feeders’ Manual: Research and Development of a Practical Guide for Feeding Food Loss and Waste to Hogs and Laying Hens in the Northeast

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• Sustainable Communities: other, food sovereignty, food sovereignty, food loss and waste recovery/reduction, food loss and waste recovery/reduction, food loss and waste recovery/reduction, food loss and waste recovery/reduction, food loss and waste recovery/reduction

The Environmental Protection
Agency estimates that the United States wastes the equivalent of
35% of its food supply each year, contributing substantially to the
greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts of waste
disposal. Food waste is a significant obstacle to efficient use
of limited agricultural resources, to improving food security,
and to increasing the sustainability of our food systems. Despite
recognition that feeding food waste to monogastric livestock
presents a promising waste-prevention opportunity, and despite
successful examples set by Japan and South Korea,
the U.S. remains without the
infrastructure, regulations, or guidance to encourage waste
feeding to meaningfully impact the environmental and economic
landscape. The use of food waste as animal feed presents a
systems approach to waste reduction because it simultaneously:
(1) decreases the environmental impacts of waste disposal and
livestock feed production; (2) increases food security by
liberating agricultural land from feed production in favor of
diverse crops for human consumption; and (3) improves the
economic efficiency of meat, egg, and dairy production by
lowering feed costs and improving farm margins.

Practical guidance is necessary
to enable farmers to capture the benefits of waste feeding at the
local level by improving farm economics and local ecosystems.
This project will: (1) test and optimize the feeding of diverse
sources of food loss and waste to developing and finishing hogs
and developing and mature laying hens in a diverse,
pasture-based, rotationally grazed production system; and (2)
develop a Waste-Feeder’s Manual, in conjunction with outreach
efforts to stakeholders, containing practical guidance for
sourcing and feeding regionally appropriate waste-based
diets. 

Research will be conducted at the
Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, with parallel and
identical experimental and control hog and laying hen groups on
one geographically separate partner farm. On each farm, using
nutritional analysis and in consultation with an animal
nutritionist, we will optimize experimental diets from locally
sourced food loss and waste sources. Control groups will be fed a
commercially-available, organic grain feed. We will also conduct
sensory analyses, and additional nutritional analyses, of the
meat and egg products of each animal group on each farm. Finally,
we will demonstrate the benefits and trade-offs of feeding waste
diets to each animal group by conducting a life cycle-style
analysis of the economic, food loss and waste prevention, and GHG
emission impacts of the optimal waste-fed system versus the
organic grain-fed system. Using this data, and information
learned from stakeholder outreach, we will produce an
evidence-based training and technical assistance guide for
producers and their communities. Additionally, we will explain
our findings and encourage livestock farmers, chefs,
policymakers, food businesses owners and community leaders to
engage with each other at a Waste Feeding Conference to be held
at the Stone Barns Center in year 3 of this project.

Through research and broadcast,
our goal is to validate and democratize these food loss and waste
feeding strategies and begin to shift cultural, market, and
policy perceptions toward a deeper understanding of the value of
waste-feeding.

Our objective is to research and
broadcast best practices for optimizing food loss and waste
(“FLW”) diets for hogs and laying hens to reduce on-farm,
manufacturing, and pre-consumer restaurant and retail food waste
in the Northeast region and beyond. This study will include
economic and nutritional research to determine the benefits and
trade-offs of an FLW diet for the economics of small farms, for
environmental impacts, and for human nutrition. Research will be
conducted at the Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture and
replicated identically at one geographically separate partner
farm. Specific project objectives are outlined in more detail
below.

Objective 1:
Source and blend diets for hogs and laying hens to establish the
optimal percentage and mix of FLW from our region that meets the
dietary needs of each animal group. We will:

• Source and gather diverse FLW
  from multiple stages in our local food chain, including on-farm
  waste (fruit and vegetable waste), manufacturing waste (spent
  brewer’s grains), and pre-consumer restaurant and retail waste
  (restaurant and grocery store fruit, vegetable, fish, and dairy
  waste);
• Analyze the composite
  nutritional composition of each FLW source at regular intervals
  over the life of the project;
• Analyze the nutritional
  composition of commercially-available organic grain feeds fed
  to each control group; and
• Engage an animal nutritionist to assist in blending complete
  FLW diets meeting all dietary needs of hogs and laying hens.

Objective 2: Measure the
effects of feeding the optimized FLW diet on both production and
animal health and welfare for pastured hogs and pastured laying
hens. We will:

• Feed an FLW diet to a
  population of pastured hogs at developing and finishing stages,
  alongside a control population fed a commercially available,
  organic, grain-based feed;
• Record and analyze health
  scores of both populations of hogs at regular intervals;
• Record and analyze the average
  daily weight gain of both populations of hogs;
• Feed an FLW diet to a
  population of pastured laying hens in developing and mature
  stages, with increasing FLW percentages at regular intervals,
  alongside a control population fed a commercially available,
  organic, grain-based feed;
• Record and analyze health
  scores of both populations of laying hens at regular intervals;
  and
• Record and analyze the hen-day egg production of both
  populations of laying hens.

Objective 3: Demonstrate the
economic and environmental benefits and trade-offs of feeding FLW
diets to each animal group for the economics of small farms. We
will:

• Analyze the amount of FLW
  diverted to animal feed, by source, over the life of the
  study;
• Determine the cost, labor
  hours, and incidental expenses of sourcing, gathering, and
  blending effective FLW diets;
• Record the cost of commercially
  available, organic, grain-based feed fed to each control group;
  and
• Compare potential greenhouse
  gas footprint of FLW diets versus the conventional.

Objective 4: Demonstrate
that not only is it possible to meet the dietary needs of hogs
and laying hens using regionally sourced FLW-based diets, but
that such a diet produces high quality pork and egg products for
human consumption. We will:

• Evaluate the carcass
  characteristics of hogs slaughtered from both
  populations;
• Conduct blind sensory analysis
  panels of pork harvested from both hog populations, including
  aroma and taste characteristics;
• Analyze the nutritional
  composition of pork harvested from both hog populations,
  including fatty acid profiles, macronutrient composition,
  micronutrient composition, and phytonutrients;
• Conduct blind sensory analysis
  panels of eggs harvested from both laying hen populations at
  each FLW interval, including aroma and taste characteristics;
  and
• Analyze the nutritional
  composition of eggs harvested from both laying hen populations
  at each FLW interval, including fatty acid profiles,
  macronutrient composition, micronutrient composition, and
  phytonutrients.

Objective 5: Utilize data
and information learned from the above objectives to develop a
“Waste-Feeders’ Manual” for complete FLW diet sourcing and
feeding in the Northeast. While the manual will be particularly
applicable to the Northeast region, our goal is to establish and
recommend best practices that can be easily adapted to other
regions of the country. We will:

• Conduct a survey of Northeast
  pork and egg producers to determine, among other things,
  industry demographics, availability of FLW sources, and the
  desire and need for specific FLW-feeding strategies and
  guidance to be addressed in the Manual; and
• Host a Waste-Feeding Conference
  for hog and laying hen farmers, chefs, butchers, policymakers,
  and other stakeholders to present the results of this project
  and glean additional stakeholder priorities for inclusion in
  the Manual.

Objective 6: Broadcast project progress through
the Stone Barns Centers’s (“SBC”) regular media channels,
including regular posting to SBC social media and through SBC’s
newsletter, and through SBC’s regular in-person programming
offered to SBC members and the general public.

Objective 7:
Complete and submit at least two scientific manuscripts sharing
the results of these studies. One paper will focus on the results
of nutrient analyses of the FLW feed streams versus the nutrient
analysis of the organic grain ration. At least one additional
paper will focus on the nutritional comparison of the final
products raised on the optimized FLW diets versus those raised on
the organic grain rations. It is possible that this paper may be
split into two, one for each animal group.