Livestock Systems

Pig

In areas where there is a tradition of consuming pork and raising pigs, particularly in East and Southeast Asia, pig production has grown in response to increasing demand for animal-based protein. Between 1960 and 2010 global pig stocks increased 2.5 times and average carcass weights almost doubled. This resulted in a quadrupling of pig-meat production over the 50-year period. Pigs are raised in a variety of settings, going from small family units of scavenging pigs, through small- to medium-sized commercial, semi-intensive units, to very large intensive units.