China’s first hoop building used for hog production is near Beijing. Fabric used for the roof casts a blue glow inside the building.

An Iowa State University researcher who worked with the Leopold Center’s Hoop Group has helped China design its first hoop building for swine production.

Built near Beijing, the test building houses 120 feeder pigs. Although China has greenhouse hoops, the structures are not suited for livestock, according to Jay Harmon, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.

“The biggest challenge was finding materials that would work,” he said. “Fabric used in U.S. hoops is actually sewn in China but was not available for this project.” Due to cultural constraints (wood is seen as a temporary construction material), the frame is made of concrete with sliding glass doors on each end, he added.

Harmon and ISU colleague Hongwei Xin have a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service grant to help the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences learn how to conserve water and control pollution in livestock production. Harmon said hoop structures offer this advantage due to the use of deep bedding.

Harmon and Xin visited China and hosted a Chinese group last summer. The ISU scientists are returning to Beijing in May to help evaluate the hoops progress. The Leopold Center formed the Hoop Group in 1997 and funded several years of research that led to their extensive use in Iowa. The Center also received four years of federal funding to help leverage hoops research in Iowa.