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Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering

ISSN 2095-7505

ISSN 2095-977X(Online)

CN 10-1204/S

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Front. Agr. Sci. Eng.    2021, Vol. 8 Issue (1) : 15-24    https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2020377
REVIEW
PORK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN CHINA: A REVIEW OF THEIR DEVELOPMENT, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS IN GREEN PRODUCTION
Shuai ZHANG1, Xin WU2, Dandan HAN1, Yong HOU3, Jianzhuang TAN4, Sung Woo KIM5, Defa LI1, Yulong YIN2, Junjun WANG1()
1. State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Feed Industry Centre, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
2. Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in the Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, the Chinese Academy of Sciences; National Engineering Laboratory for Pollution Control and Waste Utilization in Livestock and Poultry Production; Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center for Healthy Livestock and Poultry Production; Scientific Observation and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in the South-Central Region, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Changsha 410125, China.
3. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions (Ministry of Education), China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
4. Tech-bank Food Co., Ltd, Nanjing 211800, China.
5. Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
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Abstract

•Large-scale industrial pork production enterprises are preferred in China in the future.

•Challenges to green pork production include emissions, feed shortage and residues.

•Potential solutions to green production include precise feeding and manure recycling.

This paper reviews the changes in pork production in China, the largest pork producing and consuming nation in the world. The pork sector in China has changed dramatically since the 1990s, with large-scale intensive pork production systems replacing the former, exclusively family-based pork production systems. Modern breeding, feeding, vaccinating, and management technologies are widely used now. However, smallholders still account for a large proportion of the total production. The intensification and specialization of the pork sector is expected to continue in the future, but there is increasing awareness and pressure to develop more environmentally-sustainable production systems. The relative shortage of domestically produced feed, the low utilization efficiency of feed ingredients, the large emissions of nitrogen and phosphorus to the environment, the high use of antibiotics, and the presence of residual metals in manures are very large challenges for the pork sector nowadays. To solve these problems, techniques including new feed resource utilization, precise feeding, low-protein diets, alternatives to antibiotics and increased manure recycling are all important topics and research directions today. With new techniques and management approaches, it is possible to build more sustainable pork production systems in China.
Keywords China      feed      pork production      sustainability     
Corresponding Author(s): Junjun WANG   
Just Accepted Date: 26 January 2021   Online First Date: 10 March 2021    Issue Date: 29 March 2021
 Cite this article:   
Shuai ZHANG,Xin WU,Dandan HAN, et al. PORK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN CHINA: A REVIEW OF THEIR DEVELOPMENT, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS IN GREEN PRODUCTION[J]. Front. Agr. Sci. Eng. , 2021, 8(1): 15-24.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/10.15302/J-FASE-2020377
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/Y2021/V8/I1/15
Fig.1  Key pork producers in the world in 2018 (data sourced from FAO[1]).
Fig.2  Changes in annual swine slaughter (a) and pork production (b) in China over the last 15 years and annual pig feed use (c) over the last 13 years (data sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics[2]).
Fig.3  Scheme of the development of the pork production systems in China.
Fig.4  Changes inpig producer scales in China from 2007–2018 (data sourced from Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China[18]).
Rank Producer Country Sows owned in 2020
(1000 head)
1 Wens China 1300
2 Muyuan China 1283
3 Smithfield Foods USA 1241
4 CP Foods China 1,150
5 New Hope Group China 500
6 Zhengbang Group China 500
7 Triumph Foods USA 492
8 BRF Brazil 389
9 Pipestone Veterinary Services USA 385
10 Seaboard Foods USA 345
11 COFCO Group China 250
12 Cooperal France 245
13 Iowa Select Farms USA 243
14 Seara Foods Brazil 213
15 Vall Company Group Spain 213
Tab.1  Top 15 global mega pork producers in 2020 (data sourced from the National Hog Farmer[19])
Fig.5  Scheme of a modern pork production system illustrated through life-cycle analysis.
Fig.6  Schemes of two main organization models of large-scale modern pork production systems in China, namely the enterprise plus farmer model and the self-support model.
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