Working in pig farming: attractiveness factors and constraints

Abstract

In France, 6,720 family farmers and partners, and 5,990 employees work on pig farms. The attractiveness of these professions is a significant matter: like in other agricultural sectors, pig farmers are getting older and encounter difficulties to recruit enough employees. Most of them work in teams and their tasks are more specialized as farm size increases. Labor productivity is increasing, with relatively reasonable workloads compared to other types of animal production. Working in pig production has several driving forces: entrepreneurship, working with animals, performing technical tasks. Working conditions provide several advantages: regular work organization, standard working hours, teamwork, attractive income and, for some farmers, the rural location of the job. However, the repetitiveness of some tasks or physical constraints generate a risk of musculoskeletal disorders. The reassessment of livestock farmers' projects or livestock farming in general can also be a source of stress. To retain and attract qualified workers, it is essential to intervene on the material and relational levels. This will require new buildings and equipment to ease the work but also the development of actions that encourage relationships among farmers, local residents and citizens, in order to reduce tensions between actors.