One rationale for the Chinese scaling up, as U.S. pork producers have done for decades, is that the high-rise pig farms will reduce input expenses and use less land, as well as (it’s supposed) make zoonotic diseases less likely. But large pig farms may not be less resistant to disease and may actually add to risks, as they intensify environmental pressures — like in North Carolina. In fact, 10 Chinese provinces are currently experiencing an outbreak of African swine fever, which has led so far to the culling of 20,000 pigs. It’s also raising fears of the wider devastation to the Chinese pork industry similar to the outbreak of “blue ear” disease in 2007.