Poultry breeding for sustainability and welfare.

Animal breeding for welfare and sustainability requires improving and optimizing environmental impact, productivity, robustness and welfare. Breeding is a long-term exercise at the start of the food chain with permanent cumulative outcomes, disseminated widely. This chapter explains, with a focus on poultry, breeding programme design and how broadening breeding goals and managing trait antagonism results in balanced breeding and more robust animal populations. Breeding progress in skeleton and skin health, physiology and body composition, and behaviour are addressed. The economic impact of welfare and environmental improvements is worked out, and the ethical and societal aspects of genetic improvement are put into perspective. The consideration of feedbacks of all stakeholders, including customers and the wider society, is crucial. For each crossbreed, breeders will continue to improve overall welfare, health, productivity and environmental impact, but between the crossbreeds there will be clear differences answering specific demands of concepts and brands.

Farm animal welfare: the future.

Science can help us understand what animals want and economics can provide the understanding of human motivation needed to deliver such wants. In our view, what needs further development in future is for economics and information/communication science and technology to channel awareness into appropriate action. This chapter elaborates on this idea by providing some illustrative examples. Focusing on animal health and welfare, it argues that there is much scope for improvement in profit and welfare on commercial farms simply by adopting the best disease management approach available. We also emphasize the importance of systems modelling and operations research (OR) in the future to ensure that animal welfare taps into the growing opportunities that developments in these methods are likely to bring. The chapter also argues that OR can provide a bridge between animal welfare science, economics and business to deliver improvements in animal welfare through food markets. The importance of big data and precision livestock farming in livestock production/reproduction, animal health and welfare, and the environmental impact of livestock production are also discussed. New genetic approaches to optimize livestock resilience and efficiency are highlighted. We argue that tackling difficult problems, such as sustainability (that encompasses animal welfare alongside environment and climate change), efficiency and resilience in farm animal production systems, is and will remain a vital focus of research in the agri-food sector. Research methods and governance still need to change to properly reflect this. It is envisaged that animal welfare will be affected by these developments and should, wherever appropriate, be explicitly considered.

EU regulations and the current position of animal welfare.

In most countries of the world, sustainability issues are viewed by the public as of increasing importance and animal welfare is perceived to be both a public good and a key aspect of these issues. European Union animal welfare policy and legislation on animal welfare has helped animals, has had much positive influence in the world and has improved the public image of the EU. Health is a key part of welfare and the one-health and one-welfare approaches emphasize that these terms mean the same for humans and non-humans. The animals that humans use are described as sentient beings in EU legislation. Scientific information about animal welfare, like that produced by EFSA, is used in the formulation of the wide range of EU animal welfare laws. The European Commission has an animal welfare strategy including the Animal Welfare Platform. However, most kinds of animals kept in the EU are not covered by legislation, and they are subject to some of the worst animal welfare problems, so a general animal welfare law and specific laws on several species are needed. Animal sentience and welfare should be mentioned, using accurate scientific terminology, in many trade-related laws as well as in animal-specific laws.

Consumer demand for animal welfare products.

Modern agricultural practices have increased the efficiency of food production with a decrease in their cost and prices for consumers. However, to some extent this has been detrimental to the ethical way in which livestock are treated, particularly in more intensive production systems. On the demand side, an increasing number of consumers are interested in the way that food is produced and the attributes behind it. Animal welfare is one of those ethical attributes that are particularly important for consumers, and at the retail level, it is reflected in a number of labels aiming at passing cues (due to its nature as a credence attribute) to consumers. For meat supply chains, these labels have the possibility to positively affect sales if consumers are willing to pay more for products with those attributes. Moreover, if increasing animal welfare implies higher costs of production, it is important for the supply chain to know whether these costs can be passed on to consumers. These issues have motivated a substantive literature on the measurement of consumers' interest in animal welfare and their willingness to pay for its attributes. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the economic theory behind the measurement of animal welfare and some empirical applications.

People's preferences in relation to animal welfare.

People may have preferences in relation to products and services that they perceive to have animal welfare attributes. People may also have preferences in relation to different welfare states, standards and treatment of animals. Human empathy with animals is a potential source of utility (e.g. the pleasure from seeing animals playing) and disutility (e.g. the distress caused if we perceive an animal is suffering). We may derive satisfaction from moral preferences for how animals are treated regardless of this empathy. There are many animal-derived products for consumers to purchase in markets but little information on the welfare of the animals that produced them in order for consumers to make choices consistent with their animal welfare preferences. People's preferences can be ascertained by observations of their behaviour and the choices they make, and by asking people what their preferences are. Two research case studies are presented. There is a need for welfare advocacy on behalf of animals. This stewardship role must be informed by scientific evidence on animal sentience, preferences and welfare status. Government or an alternative body acting on behalf of society must take up the role to represent societal animal welfare preferences and act as custodians to protect the welfare of animals.

Farm animal welfare: origins, and interplay with economics and policy.

In this chapter we look at the origins of animal welfare as a societal concern and the interplay between the concept of animal welfare, economics and policy. We firstly propose adjustments to the 'standard view' of the development of animal welfare concerns (which we refer to as the Harrison-Brambell- FAWC (HBF) sequence). For example, we suggest that the role of science in setting animal welfare policy is a more complex process than is sometimes acknowledged. We discuss the application of economics to animal welfare including the analysis of the costs of animal welfare improvements to more recent work on trade-offs relating to animal welfare across the supply chain. Considering this range of uses of economics relating to animal welfare, we identify that the question of how to value animal welfare in economic terms remains unresolved. Lastly, we suggest that the period 1965-2008 may come to be regarded as a 'golden era' for the translation of animal welfare concerns into positive socio-political actions. We discuss a raft of issues which appear to have diminished the position of animal welfare in the policy 'pecking order'. However, societal concern over animal welfare will mean that government and others will need to be cautious of breaching 'red lines'. On a more positive note, the public profile that animal welfare enjoys will continue to provide the opportunity for policy and business innovations to improve animals' lives.

Farm animal welfare: do free markets fail to provide it?

Animal welfare is often claimed to be a 'public good', i.e. requiring government intervention and legislation to ensure that animal welfare is respected. In other words, markets, on their own, cannot be relied on to deliver socially acceptable animal welfare. In fact, the issues surrounding animal welfare are more complex and subtle than this. This chapter first explains the general features of public goods, as defined and recognized in economics (Section 2). It then turns to the specific case of animal welfare (Section 3) and explains that outlawing cruelty to animals is clearly a genuine public good, but improving animal welfare can only be achieved by reflecting consumers' willingness to pay for better animal welfare production. However, there is a clear disconnect between citizens' apparent concerns about animal welfare and their exhibited willingness to pay for better animal welfare. Does this imply a clear market failure? This apparent failure is examined with the aid of a thought experiment, and identifies the nature of the problem - a combination of information and communication deficiencies with peoples' limited availability of time, resources and motivation to attend to all social issues with each and every purchase decision. The underlying problem is one of consumption externality - other peoples' consumption decisions affect my/your assessment of our own welfare - since farmed animal welfare depends on peoples' consumption decisions.

Animal welfare measures and the WTO Post-EC - seal products case: a renewed debate and research agenda.

For nearly 20 years trade officials and scholars debated whether a national measure restricting trade on the basis of animal welfare concerns could be deemed compliant with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In June 2014, the dispute settlement body of the WTO adopted the decision on the EC - Seal Products case confirming that trade-restrictive measures aimed at safeguarding the welfare of animals can be deemed necessary to protect citizens' moral concerns. While this decision provides long-awaited answers and insights, it does not exhaust the debate on the obstacles for justifying animal welfare trade restrictions. This paper provides an overview of controversies surrounding the topic of animal welfare from a WTO perspective and a brief review of the findings from the EC - Seal Products case. In addition, this chapter calls for further research on potential controversies that may rise in relation to trade measures in contexts beyond seal hunting; like, for instance, regulatory divergences over farm animal welfare measures. In doing so, it recommends that future research pays special attention to the potential controversies associated with the use of animal welfare recommendations elaborated by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) (OIE, 2019).