CAN GIS BE USED TO CHOOSE SITES FOR INTENSIVE LIVESTOCK FACILITIES?

Choosing the right site is the most important activity that will minimise the environmental impact of intensive livestock facilities. Site selection constraints can present themselves in the form of regional capabilities such as commodity supply, livestock supply, and processing facilities, right down to site-specific factors such as proximity to neighbouring residences and natural topographic features. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are tools used to capture, store, organise and analyse data with some form of spatial reference. GIS is used by many organisations for the management of assets and resources, and has already found many applications in agricultural production, particularly in precision agriculture. The amount of GIS data available in the public domain is rapidly increasing. This paper examines the application of GIS as a tool for determining the suitability of different sites for intensive livestock facilities. Datasets relating to site constraints at all scales from a national to local level are collected and merged into a GIS to allow analysis for suitability. Features can be classified as 'hard ' constraints rendering a site either absolutely suitable or unsuitable, or 'soft' constraints which can be ranked by importance to express a degree of suitability. Time series data can also be analysed to identify trends in suitability, and can be extrapolated to predict future development regions. The three case studies presented here illustrate that GIS is a valuable tool in the analysis of site suitability for intensive livestock facilities