Feasibility of Using Pea Coproducts in Cattle Feed Rations

Modern agri-food systems are challenged to maximize sustainability from both economic and environmental perspectives. Concurrently, given widespread food insecurity, food waste is a significant global concern. This research explores the potential to reduce food waste by incorporating food coproducts into livestock rations, using as an example the inclusion of pea coproducts into winter cattle diets in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Costs of feed rations containing conventional ingredients are compared to those using food waste as a key nutrient source. It is discovered that incorporating food waste into cattle rations has the potential to enhance both the economic and environmental sustainability of the livestock sector in Canada, but these new components must be priced competitively with existing feed ingredients for this to occur.