Precision nutrition and 24-hour monitoring will enable scientists to provide new insights for the pig industry, as the University of Leeds opens the National Pig Centre today.

Scientists from a range ofdisciplines at the University will use new state-of-the-art facilities to helpimprove the sustainability and efficiency of pig production.

Supported by more than 11million of investment, the facilities make Yorkshire one of the best places inEurope for pig research.

The National Pig Centrewill be a leading research facility for pig nutrition, behaviour, health andproduction system research all themes identified by the livestock industry ascentral to improving quality, productivity and future competitiveness.

Professor Lisa Collins,academic lead for the PigSustainproject and Head of the University of Leeds Schoolof Biology, said: This new centre allows us to expand our work toimprove the welfare of pigs, and the sustainability of the British pig industry.

Our aim is to lower theenvironmental footprint of pig farming whilst ensuring that high welfarestandards are maintained.

The new centre willbenefit from academic expertise drawn from across a range of disciplinesincluding nutrition, health, behaviour and fertility, as well as computervision, engineering, soil and water sciences, data analytics, and atmosphericand climate science.

It has been launched inpartnership with CIEL (Centre for Innovation Excellence inLivestock). CIEL has invested 4.5 millionwith funding from Innovate UK, the UKs Innovation Agency.

Aerial view of the National Pig Centre

The investment includes athree-fold increase in the previous capacity of the farm, from 200 to 660 sows, ensuring research carried out at the centre better represents commercial pig farming.Of these, 220 will live outdoors.

The combination of anoutdoor sow unit with an indoor system is unique in Europe, enabling directcomparison of the different rearing systems.

Academics will work toidentify the key factors contributing to pig farmings environmental footprint,and attempt to find alternatives that could drive down the sectors greenhousegas emissions.

Their findings will helpthe UK achieve the National Farmers Union (NFU) target of reaching net zerogreenhouse gas emissions across the whole of agriculture in England and Walesby 2040.

The National Pig Centre will provide a key national resource for industry to work in partnership with the University, to develop innovative and practical solutions that make a positive contribution to the economy, environment and society.

The centres indoorfacility includes the ability to perform in-depth, automated nutrition trialsto understand how best to feed and manage pigs at all stages of production. By harnessingprecision nutrition, based on individual requirements, the aim is to reduce thecost of production, improve feed efficiency and reduce the environment impactof pig farming.

Researchers will also beable to make feed recommendations which keep pace with ongoing geneticimprovements to pigs.

The indoor facility isequipped with CCTV throughout, permitting round-the-clock observations ofindividual pigs behaviour at all stages of production. Researchers willuse computer vision to automate data collection from the video footage, sobehaviour and nutrition can be monitored at the individual pig level.

Students from across theUniversity will have the opportunity to study at the National Pig Centre aspart of their degrees, and some will have chance to contribute to researchprojects taking place at the farm.

The facility has also been supported by a generous donation from University of Leeds alumnus Nigel Bertram.

Named in his honour, the Nigel Bertram Visitor Centre features conference and meeting facilities, offices and the live CCTV feed from the indoor pig unit.

Sir Alan Langlands,Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds, said: "Leeds is proud to be workingin a number of ways at home and internationally to improve food security andthe sustainability of the agricultural sector.

"The National Pig Centrewill provide a key national resource for industry to work in partnership withthe University to develop innovative and practical solutions that make apositive contribution to the economy, environment and society.

"We are hugely grateful forthe strong support we have received from CIEL and Nigel Bertram, and theleading edge work of Helen Miller, our Professor of Animal Bioscience, indeveloping this facility.

Centrally located in theUK, the National Pig Centre will promote engagement, discussion andcollaboration between researchers and industry. The University and CIEL willwork together to drive this process.

A membership organisation, CIEL works withbusinesses across the livestock supply chain to identify & develop theirresearch needs and build relevant collaborations to deliver new technologiesand processes that address key challenges facing the sector.

"We're very proud towork with Leeds and develop this first for the pig and pork industry, saidLyndsay Chapman, CIELs Chief Executive. It provides unique researchcapability on a commercially relevant scale and complements the investmentsweve made across the CIEL network. Through our nationwide collaborativealliance, we're working to ensure industry has access to the very best expertisein this field of research."

Projects at the NationalPig Centre will help tackle some of the current challenges in pig productionincluding:

Nutrition:developing precision feeding for livestock to improve sustainability andproductivity and study the effects of nutrition on welfare and behaviour;

Anti-microbialresistance: developinghealthier pigs with more robust gut health and improved resistance to disease,thereby reducing antibiotic use;

Production systems: improving efficiency of production andidentifying better ways to feed and manage pigs;

Monitoring pigbehaviour and developingalgorithms to allow early detection of health conditions.

The National Pig Centre isone of the University facilities that will help deliver the goals of the GlobalFood and Environment Institute (GFEI), which aims to address thechallenge of feeding the world whilst protecting natural resources.

This work aligns closelyto the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly to endhunger, achieve food security and promote sustainable agriculture.

As well as the pig farm, GFEIis also carrying out research projects in arable farming, urban foodconsumption and health, food security in the Global South, and international foodsupply chains.

Further information

For interview requests, please contact the University of Leeds press office on +44 (0)113 34 38059 or pressoffice@leeds.ac.uk

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News > Working with Business > University opens National Pig Centre in Yorkshire - University of Leeds