I’m not against hogs as a source of food, not at all. We need meat in our diet, as a part of our ecosystem, and for feeding our planet. I’m against the way we increasingly materialize living creatures for the sake of efficiency and demand for cheaper and cheaper food.

It seems that this madness has no end. Here is the story about Muyuan, the biggest hog farm in the world. These seven-story buildings will contain more than 80.000 sows (!!) and deliver 2.1 million slaughtered hogs a year. It is 10% of the complete Danish yearly production and ten times more than any American farm. The entire operation is fully automated, moving animals around automatically, ending up at a slaughterhouse conveyor.

I am sure that all farmers would be glad to skip the madness and produce much better and tastier meat in surroundings fitting the nature of hogs: enough space and access to outdoor pastures that allow their instincts to thrive. An explanation of what happened might be described in my personal story.

When my parents acquired the larger neighbouring farm in 1965, industrialization of farming became a must. Farms were growing in size. The use of chemicals and artificial fertilizers, including ammonia, became standard.

The mechanical approach to farming outperformed the traditional methods that worked in balance with nature. All aspects of agriculture became driven by intensive pressure from the market and farmers’ cooperatives to increase efficiency and standardized output. This wave of optimization touched upon all sides of farming – from circular economy to industrial approach, from sizes of monoculture fields to specialized livestock holds. Increased productivity was celebrated and called the green revolution.

Surprisingly, no one questioned the use of chemicals made for warfare, reduced space for pigs, cows and chickens in the barns. I don’t recall a single conversation between farmers about the rightfulness of what was happening right in front of our eyes. My dad eventually became a part of it and decided to go for sole pig production. From having 12 dairy cows and around 100 pigs with sufficient space and good living conditions, we build a barn with 440 fattening pigs (intensive feeding from 20 kg of weight until they reach slaughtering weight). The barn got equipped with automized feeding and cleaning systems. The everpresent intensive smell of ammonia and hanging dust were the daily work environment. Sure enough, eventually, my dad started suffering from breathing problems and allergies. Financially, it was a short term benefit – dad did not stand the competition and arrived at the edge of bankruptcy.

In short, at the age of 50, dad was too old to go industrial, stand the pressure for expansion and increasing productivity. In hindsight, there was not any alternative: the whirlpool of industrialization of farming and food production was spinning at an increasing rate and dragged farmers into its slipstream without mercy.

Are there any examples of better ways to grow hogs?

Yes, definitely.

Friland, for example. I’m not a big fan of multinational food enterprises because of their lack of willingness to drive much-needed changes for farmers and consumers. There is too much greenwashing and too few actual actions going on. Friland, part of the Danish Crown, has its roots as cooperative sales organization for Danish farmers. It also became multinational and in many ways is also a part of the problem. Nevertheless, I would like to credit their efforts for more free-range grown meat at the marketplace.

Farmers Circle is a farm that believes in something as simple as working according to natural cycles and processes. We believe that in millions of years nature has already tested what’s working and what’s not by performing millions of trial-and-error tests where the most beneficial and most healthy practices survived.

Nature always knows better and always wins in the end.