Getting to know Zanita Markham, Knowledge Transfer Pork

I have continued to focus on this area while being part of different teams within AHDB, including the Environment and Resource Management team, and the Pork Knowledge Transfer team.

Legislation has changed significantly in recent years and will continue to do so because the requirements to reduce emissions, especially ammonia, will continue to apply to producers. Keeping up to date with legal requirements can be daunting. Even so, I have enjoyed collaborating with producers to help them interpret the legislation in this area and the practical elements involved, so they can find solutions that fit their business needs. Our links with regulators in this area are becoming increasingly important. Having a two-way conversation, understanding what pig producers need and finding out the possibilities available to them in today’s world are essential. We can keep these links firmly open by meeting regularly with the Environment Agency (EA) and skilled industry experts such as Lizzie Wilson at NPA and colleagues from the NFU.

I am committed to helping the pig industry improve its environmental credentials. The Environment Agency's acceptance of, and participation in, our four-year study to establish ammonia emissions from commercial pig housing has been an important collaboration. The EA is currently updating the Pollution Inventory used in Environmental Permitting Regulations based on the results of this study.

I have had the privilege of working on exciting and impactful projects involving my background in research trial management and environmental science. In my early days, I visited Germany with independent producers, looking at the potential future of housed pigs. I have since worked with the EU and UK housing and equipment suppliers exploring novel technologies and innovations in animal housing and environmental improvements. The learnings are summarised in AHDB’s GrowSave technology review.

Making technologies of the future accessible, such as slurry cooling and air scrubbers, and watching the uptake and learning have been inspiring. Currently, I am working with a like-minded industry group on a project to develop a solution for harvesting green ammonia from pig slurry, which could potentially decarbonise power and transportation. I have also been introducing peers at Defra and the Environment Agency to the intricacies of pig production through a programme of farm visits looking at future agricultural policy changes, such as free farrowing and net-zero ambitions. I hope to continue my work to encourage producers to input into future agricultural policy decisions.