As global demand for animal protein increases, feed formulation must balance nutrition, cost, and sustainability. By integrating life-cycle assessments, reliable data, and transparent sourcing, formulators can meet animal needs while protecting the environment.
Chief Executive Officer
Optimal Technologies
In recent years, the livestock sector has faced growing scrutiny over its environmental footprint, prompting a shift in priorities for animal feed formulation. Traditionally, feed formulation centered on providing the necessary nutrients at minimal cost, ensuring optimal animal health and productivity. Today, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve water, protect biodiversity, and manage land resources responsibly means feed formulators must integrate environmental criteria alongside nutrition and economics. Achieving this balance is no simple task. It requires not only technical expertise but also reliable environmental data and robust analytical methods.
At its core, feed formulation involves selecting a combination of ingredients—grains, protein sources, fats, vitamins, and minerals—to meet the nutritional requirements of livestock. Historically, decisions were guided by feed efficiency and cost, but the landscape is changing. Increasingly, the question is not just how to feed animals effectively, but how to do so in a way that aligns with global sustainability goals. This expanded perspective integrates life-cycle assessments (LCAs), environmental impact data, and resource-use metrics into the decision-making process. Formulators now face the challenge of weighing ecological factors against traditional metrics to make informed, balanced choices.
BEYOND NUTRITION AND COST: A CHANGING PARADIGM
Feed formulation once revolved around two primary considerations: providing essential nutrients and minimizing expenses. While these goals remain crucial, the industry is embracing a more holistic approach. Environmental concerns, such as carbon footprints, land-use changes, and water scarcity, are now part of the equation. The challenge is to incorporate these considerations without sacrificing animal health, productivity, or profitability.
For example, a protein ingredient might be nutritionally sound and economically attractive, but if its production involves deforestation or intensive irrigation in water-stressed regions, it carries hidden ecological costs. Similarly, a promising low-emission ingredient might be more expensive or less concentrated in certain amino acids. Balancing these trade-offs requires a deep understanding of both nutritional and environmental parameters.
THE CENTRALITY OF DATA IN SUSTAINABLE FORMULATION
Reliable data forms the backbone of responsible decision-making. In feed formulation, nutritional composition and cost data are well-documented and relatively accessible. The real challenge emerges when gathering environmental data. Unlike nutrient values, which are often standardized and widely available, environmental metrics vary significantly depending on geographic origin, farming practices, transportation methods, and processing technologies.
The environmental footprint of a single ingredient can differ dramatically based on its supply chain. For instance, soy sourced from regions associated with deforestation may have a substantially higher carbon footprint compared to soy grown under more sustainable land-use policies. Without clear, verified information, formulators cannot accurately assess the trade-offs between different ingredients. This lack of consistent data makes it difficult to develop evidence-based strategies that truly minimize environmental impact.
LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENTS (LCAs) AS A KEY TOOL
Life-cycle assessment is a systematic method for evaluating the environmental impacts of a product throughout its entire life cycle—from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal. In the context of feed formulation, LCAs provide a comprehensive overview of the inputs (land, water, energy), outputs (emissions, effluents), and potential ecological consequences associated with each ingredient.
Integrating LCA findings into formulation software helps nutritionists and formulators understand the “big picture” implications of their choices. Instead of relying on incomplete or anecdotal evidence, they can ground their decisions in robust, science-based data. By comparing multiple ingredients through an LCA lens, formulators can identify which options lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions, reduced water use, or less extensive land conversion. Over time, as LCAs become more refined and widely adopted, these insights will drive continuous improvement in feed formulation practices.
OVERCOMING DATA CHALLENGES
Acquiring reliable environmental data remains one of the greatest obstacles. While some databases and scientific publications provide generic values, these may not reflect local conditions or the unique supply chains of individual feed producers. Methodological differences in how LCAs are conducted can lead to inconsistent results, making it difficult to compare studies.
To address this issue, greater transparency and collaboration are needed. Feed companies can partner with universities, research institutions, and certification bodies to develop standardized data-collection methods. Engaging directly with suppliers to verify farming and processing practices can also improve data accuracy. Over time, these efforts contribute to more reliable environmental databases, enabling a more meaningful incorporation of environmental metrics into the formulation process.
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS FOR UNCERTAINTY MANAGEMENT
Even with improved data, uncertainties persist. Environmental impact assessments involve assumptions and are influenced by dynamic factors such as market fluctuations, climate variability, and technological advancements. Parametric and sensitivity analyses provide a way to navigate these uncertainties.
Parametric analysis involves adjusting key variables—such as ingredient inclusion rates or production emissions factors—and observing how these changes affect the overall environmental outcomes of a formulation. By systematically varying inputs, formulators can identify thresholds where an ingredient substitution substantially improves sustainability metrics.
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS
Technology plays a pivotal role in overcoming data challenges and integrating environmental metrics. Advanced formulation software can incorporate LCA databases, parametric analysis tools, and user-friendly interfaces that help nutritionists experiment with various scenarios. Real-time modeling allows formulators to quickly test the environmental and nutritional outcomes of substituting one ingredient for another.
Emerging digital technologies, such as the blockchain, can enhance traceability by recording each transaction in a tamper-proof ledger. This approach can build trust in data quality, reduce the risk of misinformation, and streamline verification processes. As these tools mature, formulators will be able to make faster, more reliable decisions that align with both environmental and economic goals.
ADAPTING TO FUTURE CHALLENGES
The environmental dimensions of feed formulation will only grow in importance as global challenges like climate change, population growth, and resource scarcity intensify. Future feed systems may rely on entirely new categories of ingredients—such as insect meals, cultured proteins, or algae-based feeds—with their own unique environmental profiles. Keeping pace with these innovations demands flexibility, openness to experimentation, and willingness to update LCA methodologies accordingly.
As data collection technologies improve—using sensors, remote sensing tools, or satellite imagery—environmental metrics will become more accurate and readily available. This enhanced precision will further empower formulators to make data-driven decisions that reflect current realities rather than outdated assumptions. In this evolving landscape, the ability to adapt will be as important as the ability to measure.
CONCLUSION
The journey towards environmentally responsible feed formulation is complex, but it is also filled with opportunities. By embracing life-cycle assessment methodologies, improving data quality, leveraging analytical tools, and fostering transparency throughout the supply chain, feed formulators can integrate ecological considerations without losing sight of nutritional and economic objectives.
Overcoming the data challenge is a central theme. Without reliable, comprehensive, and comparable environmental data, it remains difficult to make confident choices that truly reduce footprints. Yet, as the industry invests in research, collaborations, technology, and education, the quality of environmental metrics will improve. Eventually, sustainable feed formulation will become the norm, and the industry will be recognized as a key driver of positive change.
In this pursuit, innovation and adaptation are constant companions. The sector’s collective efforts to refine data, methodologies, and strategies will create a more resilient, competitive, and forward-looking industry. By making environmentally informed decisions, feed formulators help ensure that animal agriculture can continue to meet global nutritional needs while safeguarding the planet’s resources.
About Ricardo Amaral
Ricardo Amaral is currently Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Optimal. With an MBA in Corporate Finance and specialization in Agribusiness Management and Governance, Amaral has been working with technology companies with an emphasis on mathematical optimization methods and data analysis for the past 15 years. His focus as the CEO at Optimal is to create tools for laboratory information management and formulation optimization, allowing business to craft the ideal strategies to optimize feed efficiency, improve animal performance and maximize profit from the whole system.
