The economic impact of mandatory group housing for pregnant sows in the pig industry

Starting from 2030, mandatory group housing for pregnant sows on pig farms has been enforced, requiring to secure the group housing spaces for pregnant sows.Additionally, six weeks after mating, pregnant sows are obligated to be raised in group housing spaces, and, the use of individual stalls is prohibited.This study analyzed the impact of mandatory group housing for pregnant sows on the pig industry using the equilibrium displacement model (EDM).The results showed a decrease in production due to the increase in space allocation per sow, but more significantly, consumers' willingness to pay, driven by animal welfare considerations, increased.This led to the increase in retail prices and farm prices by 13% and 25%, respectively.Analyzing the changes in social welfare, consumer surplus is increased by 5,887 billion won, and producer surplus is also increased by 10,655 billion won, contributing to the total increase in social welfare of 16,542 billion won.This suggests that the mandatory group housing for pregnant sows have positive impacts on both consumers and producers.However, this study did not consider the cost aspect, and, therefore future research is required to address the issue of cost.