The Australasian Pig Science Association (APSA) has a long and storied history of helping to lead thoughtful discussion on important topics affecting pork production. Established in 1987, it has hosted the Manipulating Pig Production conference every 2 years, with the 2019 meeting the 17th such event. This conference is viewed globally as an innovative and progressive event. In this regard, the global pork industry is working hard to respond to the many forces affecting its future: management and prevention of diseases, including the debilitating viral disease African swine fever (Sanchez-Cordon et al., 2018), improving productivity to fulfil expectations of demand for product, attention to pork’s environmental footprint and satisfying an increasingly demanding and diverse consumer marketplace (Busch and Spiller, 2019). A special issue of Animal, including many topics seeking to address the aforementioned issues, is therefore appropriate and timely. The content of this special issue, reflected in its diversity, reveals some of the approaches that are being brought to bear to address these challenges, from precision agriculture to alternative protein sources to improved control of reproduction.