Pig farm barns : outlook and trends

The IFIP, operating under the CASDAR project, has led a forward-looking inquiry into furture farm models for French pig farming and pork production. Part of this research consisted in determining which farm structures are liable to lead as frontrunners over the next decade. The results of this research section were published by Christine Roguet (Ifip 2009).This paper reports rthe conclusions on the pig farm building-centred strand of the research.Analysis focused on the challenges and constraints that pig farms will have to contend with. The paper proposes or identifies technical solutions (some already deployed, some needing research) geared to meeting the brunt of the challenges the pork production industry is expected to be facing over a 10-year time-horizon.The 2019 pig farm building will typically be built in insulated load-bearing panels.Ventilation is centralized, with air-scrubbing and energy recovery. The air is preheated in winter and cooled in summer. Animal feed is delivered in moisture-rich formats at every stage.Low value-added operations, such as animal transport or hall washdowns, are either automated or re-engineered.