Growing prosperity in China has led to a significant increase in meat consumption. On average, each Chinese person eats 60 kg of pork per year, which is higher than the German average (52 kg). To meet this demand, Chinese pig farms are growing upwards. Multi-story pig houses, which contain up to 58,000 sows on multiple floors, have become common in China.
ARD correspondent Tamara Anthony visited one such piggery in Shandong province. She was impressed by the scale of the operation. Follow the news in a convenient format: Follow us on Twitter "This is a huge complex," she said. "It occupies an area of about 200 hectares and has 30 floors." Keeping pigs in such pigsties is traditional. Sows stand in cages throughout the waiting period. "It's not ideal," Anthony said. "But the workers of the piggery say that it is better than if the pigs were outside." The Chinese government promotes the development of multi-story pig farms. Scientist Mindy Schneider believes that this is due to the government's desire to ensure affordable prices for pork. "The government's success will also depend on people being able to buy enough cheap pork," he said. Life is not easy for workers in multi-story pig farms. They live and sleep on the territory of the complex and, as a rule, do not leave the premises for up to two months. "This is hard work," said one ...
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