[Special Feature for the Founding Issue] “Pig farming is a 3D industry? With ICT combined, it has become a smart workplace where a five-day workweek is possible”

[Korea Agricultural Technology Newspaper = Reporter Lee Hyun-woo] There is a second-generation young farmer challenging the pig farming industry, where youth inflow has been difficult due to rural aging and odor problems, with ‘data-driven precision livestock farming.’ The person is Lee Sang-jin (born in 1995), CEO of Sangjin Livestock in Hapcheon, Gyeongnam.

CEO Lee strategically utilized government support programs to remodel an existing conventional farm into an advanced smart pig house with a scale of 600 sows. By introducing a liquid manure circulation system that solved chronic odor issues and an AI-based management system, he lowered piglet mortality to under 2% and built an environment where a five-day workweek is possible, presenting a new paradigm for the pig farming industry.

Starting in March this year, he began introducing replacement gilts and has currently secured 480 sows (as of June). By July, he plans to operate the full 600-head permanent breeding system, with the first farrowing scheduled for September and piglet shipments in October. We met CEO Lee Sang-jin on site, who is presenting a new paradigm for pig farming by putting ‘data,’ not ‘gut feeling,’ at the forefront.

The condition for inheriting the family business: ‘facility modernization’…field practice built from the ground up
In fact, Lee Sang-jin’s childhood dream was to become a zookeeper or an athlete. He had no dream at all of raising pigs. He recalled, “When I followed my father to the pig barn as a child, I had strong aversion because of the distinctive odor and outdated facilities. But I liked animals and dreamed of becoming a zookeeper, and after discussions with my father, who promised to modernize the farm facilities, I decided on pig farming as my career in my third year of high school.”

After deciding on a career as a pig farming manager, Lee entered the Department of Small Livestock Science (majoring in swine) at Korea National College of Agriculture and Fisheries, where he built professional knowledge for three years. In particular, field training conducted for six months each at a breeding farm in Pocheon, Gyeonggi, and a pig farm in Hapcheon, Gyeongnam during his second year became a solid foundation for his life in pig farming.

Lee explained, “I thought I had to learn from the bottom and build the basics to understand the entire farm. So I started by cleaning manure just like the foreign workers. It was hard at first, but I threw myself into the basics physically. Thanks to that, my perspective broadened to see the whole farm. Experiencing pig houses in various environments became a key asset in designing the smart pig house now.”

After graduating in 2017, he purchased his first farm (Sangjin Farm) based on funds secured as a successor agricultural manager and other resources, and there he developed his management sense. Later, while directly operating a remodeled pig house under his father, he earned recognition for pig farming performance, and finally in 2023 gave birth to ‘Sangjin Livestock,’ a new smart pig house construction project.
 

Securing funds through strategic use of government support programs
CEO Lee Sang-jin was convinced that smart pig houses are the solution to current issues such as improving productivity and resolving labor shortages. However, for a young farmer, the enormous funds needed for facility modernization and the like were a huge barrier.

Lee thoroughly analyzed government policy funds and subsidy programs and approached them strategically to minimize financial risk. As a result, the total project cost of about 5.08 billion won needed to build the smart pig house and purification discharge-related facilities (about 4.0 billion won in loans, about 430 million won in subsidies, and about 640 million won in self-funding) was prepared through the smart farm support project, the livestock manure treatment support project, and the ICT convergence expansion project in the livestock sector.

He explained, “Rather than procuring the entire construction cost at once, it was effective to separate and operate it by project, avoiding rigidity in the initial funding plan and responding flexibly.”

The very first thing Lee prioritized in building the smart pig house was establishing a ‘liquid manure circulation purification discharge system’ to solve chronic odor and gas problems. This was because, in the field, no matter how expensive ICT equipment is introduced, it often becomes useless after corroding within one to two years due to harmful gases such as ammonia inside the pig house.

He said, “If liquid manure does not circulate, introducing ICT is premature. We introduced a system that allows us to create dams (water-level control walls) and grooves in each pen so that sludge can flow smoothly without blind spots.” He continued, “By installing distributors for each pen and maintaining uniform pressure, we prevented manure from stagnating. It works on the same principle as flushing a toilet,” adding, “Microorganisms immediately consume fresh feces, so there is no time for odor to develop. While piglet mortality at other farms is around 5%, farms applying this system are not even at 2%.”

Precision livestock farming led by AI and data…‘upward standardization’ of feeding management
Another core competitive edge of Sangjin Livestock lies in its AI data integration platform. On-site workers can immediately input and check individual animal information through NFC tags using a smartphone (or computer), and the hardware and software are perfectly linked.

The most eye-catching equipment is a body-shape analysis system based on 3D lidar sensors. This equipment was introduced to solve problems such as the large amount of labor投入 in the sow reproductive process and the decline in sow productivity caused by insufficient body-shape and nutrition management.

This product automatically measures the sow’s body condition (BCS) and more from above in a non-contact manner and supplies feed suitable for the body condition and timing. This can lead to prevention of feed loss, improved productivity, and ultimately higher farm income.

He said, “Until now, many farms relied on the farm manager’s intuition or manually measured each animal’s backfat. So it was often skipped with a rough visual estimate because it was bothersome. Also, measurements can differ from person to person,” adding, “If a sow becomes too fat or too thin, farrowing performance is ruined. On the other hand, this system analyzes body condition in real time and links with the automatic feeder to automatically adjust feed amounts for each individual. Except for unusual animals, the body condition of all sows on the farm becomes ‘upward standardized.’ We can dramatically reduce feed waste and unnecessary medication costs.”

The AI-based cameras installed in the farrowing house are also a major contributor enabling the smart management system. The AI cameras analyze the sow’s behavior patterns to detect signs of imminent farrowing and abnormal delivery, and notify managers in real time via KakaoTalk alerts. This is why immediate response is possible when problems occur and efficient management can be achieved even with a small workforce. In addition, timers installed in each farrowing crate help ensure that the timing for piglets to consume colostrum is not missed. CEO Lee Sang-jin said, “By integrating such systems, a one-person management system has become possible.”

He also invested boldly in heatwave measures in response to climate change. Lee installed four high-performance cooling units, each costing tens of millions of won, in the gestation and farrowing houses at a total cost of 280 million won.

He explained, “The existing cooling system reduced stress on pigs, but had limitations in lowering mortality during heatwaves,” and “We are managing the pig house coolly, controlling the temperature at 21–22 degrees Celsius. This is because the economic losses caused by lower sow replacement rates and lower piglet survival rates due to heatwaves are far greater than the burden of electricity costs.” He added, “However, to prevent diarrhea in piglets that may occur in this environment, we installed fixed warming-cover zones inside the farrowing house to create an optimal environment where sows stay cool and piglets stay warm,” adding, “The shipping age of healthy piglets can be shortened by 10 to 30 days.”

Lee’s ultimate goal is to maximize pig farming performance. The farm previously operated by his father also achieved excellent results through remodeling, with MSY (marketed pigs per sow per year) of 24 and PSY (piglets weaned per sow per year) of 26–27, but Lee expressed his ambition to raise PSY from 30 to as high as 35 through the smart pig house.

Based on the smart pig house system, Lee estimated that if productivity is increased, the cost of purchasing ICT equipment (1.2 billion won) could be repaid in about three years, and the facility funds of 4.3 billion won (loans) in about ten years.
 

Improved welfare draws young workers…“The future of pig farming lies in data”
Thanks to this all-around automation and data management, Sangjin Livestock has gained breathing room in workforce management. Normally, operating a 600-sow scale requires at least five or more skilled workers every single day, but Sangjin Livestock has established a system that guarantees a five- to six-day workweek and flexible days off even with four to five workers.

Lee said, “AI equipment replaces a significant portion of what people used to do. It finishes in 10 seconds what used to take 10 minutes. Without going out to the site, we can remotely control feed bins and check whether work has been done from the office or home using a smartphone,” adding, “As the introduction of the AI system made a five-day workweek possible to some extent, we were able to hire two Korean employees in their 30s, who have been said to be hard to recruit since COVID-19. It also became easier to hire foreign workers who value time off and welfare more than salary.”

Lastly, CEO Lee Sang-jin pledged, “If pig farming in the past depended on the intuition and experience of veteran farm managers, pig farming of the future must be thoroughly data-centered. Once a data-based system is in place, even beginners can operate the farm according to the manual with upward standardization,” adding, “I will stake everything on fully verifying this in my current farm and completing a successful model for young pig farming.”