Animal Groups Strongly Oppose Chungnam's 'AI Pig Farming Building'
Calling It "The Height of Disregard for Life"
Chungnam Province has partnered with a Chinese pig farming company to introduce ‘pig farming building’ technology and equipment, which involves raising hundreds of thousands of pigs inside apartment-like buildings, and to receive know-how. This move has sparked strong opposition from some animal welfare groups.
Kim Tae-heum, Governor of Chungnam Province, recently signed a business agreement with Yangxiang Group and its subsidiary, Suing Science and Technology Co., Ltd. Under the agreement, Chungnam Province will introduce cutting-edge pig farming technology and equipment to build a smart livestock complex and promote ways to increase productivity for pig farmers.
Yangxiang Group is a large company in China that raises more than 2.5 million pigs and operates ‘pig farming buildings’ using AI and information and communication technology (ICT). These pig farming buildings are designed to enable large-scale pig raising, slaughtering, and processing on only about 10% of the land area of traditional farms. They are ‘state-of-the-art future-style pig houses’ that allow large-scale farming without infectious diseases or odors through complete isolation from the outside. The province is focusing on this as a model for its ‘smart livestock complex,’ which is part of its agricultural and rural structural reform.
Governor Kim said, “Chungnam is promoting smart livestock farming where people wear suits to commute,” adding, “My conviction is that we need to create a ‘state-of-the-art livestock complex’ that integrates small-scale farms into larger units, completes everything from raising to meat processing in one place, and produces electricity from biogas generated from manure.” He also stated, “We will establish a fund worth 1 trillion won to support livestock farmers and continuously modernize livestock facilities in the province. We will incorporate the know-how of Yangxiang Group and Suing Science and Technology Co., Ltd. into the development of our province’s pig farming industry.”
Animal Groups Issue Statement Opposing Animal Rights Violations
In response, some animal welfare groups immediately voiced strong opposition. On the 10th, the animal rights organization KARA issued a statement saying, “Stacking pigs like apartments is the height of disregard for life,” and called for the complete abolition of the AI pig farming building policy.
KARA condemned Chungnam Province, saying, “We strongly denounce Chungnam Province for misleading the public by calling it ‘smart livestock farming where people wear suits to commute’ while openly damaging pig welfare. Our society wants farms where pigs can live like pigs. We remind once again that Chungnam’s AI pig farming building policy is a policy that leads to disregard for life and urge the complete abolition of this plan immediately.”
They also questioned claims that AI pig farming buildings are effective for disease control. KARA stated, “Chungnam Province argues that with ‘complete isolation’ from the outside, raising more pigs in denser conditions can be done without infectious diseases or odors. However, even with advanced systems, raising hundreds of thousands of pigs in confined spaces inevitably increases the risk of disease infection and makes disease control difficult. Experts, including those from New York University, point out that there is no evidence that such highly intensive animal farming facilities completely block diseases.”
They continued, “Pig farming buildings approach the issue only from an economic perspective, claiming to increase labor efficiency tenfold on just 10% of the land area of traditional farms, with no mention of pig welfare anywhere. Pigs’ natural behaviors are severely restricted in limited spaces with concrete floors, and this frustration inevitably lowers their immunity,” adding, “In such environments, excessive use of antibiotics induces antibiotic resistance in pig populations, and from a disease management perspective, a huge number of pigs inevitably have to be culled, which is also a serious problem.”
Productivity vs. Animal Welfare... Controversy Likely to Continue
Whether the AI pig farming building promoted by Chungnam Province will become an innovative model for the livestock industry or another form of factory farming that ignores animal rights is expected to remain a subject of ongoing controversy. Chungnam Province insists it is a “policy considering productivity and sustainability,” but given the strong opposition from animal groups, there are calls for broader social discussion.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
