Citation: Mahfuz, S.; Mun, H.-S.;
Dilawar, M.A.; Yang, C.-J.
Applications of Smart Technology as
a Sustainable Strategy in Modern
Swine Farming. Sustainability 2022,
14, 2607. https://doi.org/
10.3390/su14052607
Academic Editors: Charisios Achillas,
Dionysis Bochtis and Dimitrios
Aidonis
Received: 19 January 2022
Accepted: 11 February 2022
Published: 23 February 2022
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sustainability
Review
Applications of Smart Technology as a Sustainable Strategy in
Modern Swine Farming
Shad Mahfuz
1,2,†
, Hong-Seok Mun
1,3,†
, Muhammad Ammar Dilawar
1,4
and Chul-Ju Yang
1,4,
*
1
Animal Nutrition and Feed Science Laboratory, Department of Animal Science and Technology,
Sunchon National University, Suncheon 57922, Korea; shadmahfuz@sau.ac.bd (S.M.);
mhs8828@scnu.ac.kr (H.-S.M.); ammar_dilawar@yahoo.com (M.A.D.)
2
Department of Animal Nutrition, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh
3
Department of Multimedia Engineering, Sunchon National University, Suncheon 57922, Korea
4
Interdisciplinary Program in IT-Bio Convergence System (BK21 Plus), Sunchon National University,
Suncheon 57922, Korea
* Correspondence: yangcj@scnu.ac.kr; Tel.: +82-61-750-3235
† Both authors have contributed equally to the manuscript as co-first authors.
Abstract: The size of the pork market is increasing globally to meet the demand for animal protein,
resulting in greater farm size for swine and creating a great challenge to swine farmers and industry
owners in monitoring the farm activities and the health and behavior of the herd of swine. In
addition, the growth of swine production is resulting in a changing climate pattern along with the
environment, animal welfare, and human health issues, such as antimicrobial resistance, zoonosis, etc.
The profit of swine farms depends on the optimum growth and good health of swine, while modern
farming practices can ensure healthy swine production. To solve these issues, a future strategy
should be considered with information and communication technology (ICT)-based smart swine
farming, considering auto-identification, remote monitoring, feeding behavior, animal rights/welfare,
zoonotic diseases, nutrition and food quality, labor management, farm operations, etc., with a view
to improving meat production from the swine industry. Presently, swine farming is not only focused
on the development of infrastructure but is also occupied with the application of technological
knowledge for designing feeding programs, monitoring health and welfare, and the reproduction
of the herd. ICT-based smart technologies, including smart ear tags, smart sensors, the Internet of
Things (IoT), deep learning, big data, and robotics systems, can take part directly in the operation of
farm activities, and have been proven to be effective tools for collecting, processing, and analyzing
data from farms. In this review, which considers the beneficial role of smart technologies in swine
farming, we suggest that smart technologies should be applied in the swine industry. Thus, the future
swine industry should be automated, considering sustainability and productivity.
Keywords: smart farming technology; sustainability; swine production
1. Introduction
In the swine industry, it is important and challenging to monitor the health and
behavior of the full herd of swine. Therefore, smart tools are needed that can remotely
monitor the pigs and can provide accurate information to the farm operator [1]. As the
profit of swine farms relies on the normal health and behavior of swine, the industry
owner demands the good health of pigs, ensuring optimum body weight, height, behavior,
posture, and glossy skins, with the absence of any symptoms of diseases, malnutrition, or
cataracts [1,2]. A remote monitoring tool can help to identify the health and behavior status
of individual pigs, i.e., their temperature, posture, body weight, estrus, gait, abnormal
behavior, etc. [1]. Good farming practices can ensure healthy animal production through
detecting illness in animals early and can ensure economic benefits of the farm; meanwhile,
poor farming management systems lead to disease incidence in farms, resulting in economic
Sustainability 2022, 14, 2607. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052607 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability