Currently a pig farm requires an industrial emissions licence if the size of the farm exceeds 750 sow places or 2,000 places for “production pigs” – where a “production pig” is defined as a pig over 30kg liveweight.
These threshold figures have been amended and will impact smaller pig farms below these thresholds in the future.
Initially, the proposal was to include all livestock farms (rearing poultry, pigs and or bovine animals) with over 150 Livestock Units (LSU) in a permitting system under the Industrial Emissions Directive (Council Directive 2010/75/EU).
The requirement to bring in the permitting of livestock rearing was to reduce health issues associated with ammonia emissions and associated respiratory issues in humans.
The focus of this article is on pig farms affected by these changes.
The new threshold figure for the “rearing of pigs” is now 350 LSU, and bovines have been excluded from the directive.
So, if you exceed this 350 LSU threshold, you must comply with the amended Industrial Emissions Directive.
Relevant EU Directive
The directive was finalised as Directive 2024/ 1785 and is dated 24 April 2024. The LSU level is calculated based upon the following conversion rates for pigs (shown in Annex 1a):
This directive also lays down rules “designed to prevent or, where that is not practicable, to continuously reduce emissions into air, water and land, to prevent the generation of waste, improve resource efficiency, and to promote the circular economy and decarbonisation, in order to achieve a high level of protection of human health and the environment as a whole”. The EU Commission established uniform conditions for operating rules for livestock (UCOL rules) which were adopted into legislation on 8 October 2026.
Phase in of rules
It is required that each member state shall apply the laws, regulations and administrative provisions for farms with pigs only within:
The threshold figure of 350 LSU is reached on a pig unit rearing pigs from birth to sale and producing 27 pigs per sow per year at an integrated sow herd of c.118 sows plus progeny but it may vary depending on performance on individual farms. The 350 LSU is reached on a finishing unit above 1,166 finisher places.
Post 2032, all pig farms above this size will require a “permit” to comply with the requirements of this directive.
This new permitting system will be administered and controlled by the Environmental Protection Agency.
They will ensure compliance with the requirements of the UCOL rules that apply to the pig sector and are summarised below. It is expected that the administration of this permitting will require less paperwork than current licensed premises but the detail on that will only be made known in the next few years.
There are 18 uniform conditions (UC 1 to 20, excluding UC 3 and 4 which are specific to poultry rearing), rules that relate to pig production.
Most of these “rules” aim to prevent or, where that is not practicable, minimise emissions of nitrogen, phosphorus, ammonia, methane, odour, dust and microbial pathogens to the environment.
More refer to noise nuisance, and the efficient use of water, electricity and fuel, and require monitoring of some input items (feed, electricity, fuel, water) in the pig production operation to assess how efficiently they are used.
There are techniques which are very similar to the Best Available Technologies (BAT) that current EPA licensees must comply with as part of their Industrial Emissions Licence. Where new pig “plants” or buildings are being considered, they will need to be designed to reduce future ammonia and methane emissions, thereby adding extra construction costs.
Conclusion
These new requirements will bring extra monitoring, recording and reporting requirements for smaller pig farms in the years to come.
This will bring some extra cost in terms of pig production costs. The upgrade in new housing requirements will also require extra capital expenditure.
It is important that pig producers are aware of these new requirements and factor them into any future developments for their farm.
