The Zhongxin Kaiwei Modern Livestock mega piggery in Ezhou, China / Captured from Weibo
By Lee Hae-rin
A local government’s controversial plan to introduce China’s agricultural technology and construct a “mega pig farming apartment” has ignited outrage over animal rights and public health.
South Chungcheong Province Gov. Kim Tae-heum signed a business agreement with China’s Yangxiang Group and its subsidiary Shenzhen Suying Science and Technology in February to develop an “AI pig farming apartment.”
To establish what Kim describes as “smart livestock farming where farmers wear suits,” the municipality plans to implement China’s agricultural technologies and equipment in its 1 trillion won-scale “smart livestock complex.”
Yangxiang is one of China’s pork industry giants, raising over 2.5 million pigs annually across a dozen high-rise breeding facilities in China, using AI and digital technology.
Similarly, a highly intensive and industrialized pig farming facility will be designed to enable large-scale breeding and processing of pigs using just 10 percent of the province’s existing farmland, in a more efficient, bio-secure and sustainable way, according to the provincial government.
The project ignited criticism among animal welfare groups.
The Korean Animal Welfare Association called for the withdrawal of the proposed pig farming facility, describing the province’s plan as “ridiculous” and a threat to both animal welfare and public health.
The group referenced a report released in 2023 by the international farm animal welfare organization Compassion in World Farming, which highlighted concerns about China’s multi-story pig farms.
“Multi-storey pig farms typically present significant animal welfare and health concerns associated with the confinement of a very high number of animals in a barren and overcrowded environment,” the statement said. “There are also concerns about antimicrobial overuse in those intensive systems contributing to antimicrobial resistance in the human population, the increased risk of disease outbreaks and the subsequent management of such outbreaks.”
Pigs are confined at a farming facility in Korea in this undated provided photo / Courtesy of animal rights research group Aware
Experts and news outlets overseas have also highlighted that high breeding density in confined spaces can lead to the rapid spread of diseases and increase the risk of virus mutations, contradicting the province’s claims, the group noted.
Korea Animal Rights Advocates also urged the complete abolition of the project in a commentary released on Monday.
“(The province) argues that it is possible to raise more pigs without infectious diseases and odors even if they are raised more densely on the premise of ‘perfect confinement’ from the outside world, but even if the state-of-the-art system is applied, raising hundreds of thousands of pigs in a narrow space will inevitably increase the risk of disease infection and make it difficult to control the disease,” the group said, adding there is no evidence that such a highly intensive animal breeding facility completely blocks the spread of disease.
The provincial government only focuses on the “economic perspective” of high-output pig farming and disregards the fact that pigs will be exposed to poor conditions where they cannot exercise their natural behavior and face disease outbreak concerns, the group said.
The South Chungcheong provincial government’s livestock department, however, said that it was merely a memorandum of understanding, and the design of its pig farming facility could differ from that of China’s.
