Towards Farm Animal Welfare and Sustainability

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The protection and enhancement of farm animal welfare has become an increasingly important component of livestock systems and animal-based food supply chains in many of the more economically developed countries around the world. With the growth of debates around environmental sustainability and food security at the international and global scale, this paper explores the ways in which farm animal welfare, as a public concern, as a science, and as a policy and regulatory area can articulate with these other debates in a comprehensive and holistic manner. ABSTRACT: As farm animal welfare becomes an increasingly important component of contemporary global livestock production, animal welfare science and animal welfare policy-making need to find new ways of entering global debates over food security and sustainability. In this paper, we explore the means by which both animal welfare science and policy should articulate with these emerging global debates. Having first established the important gains in animal welfare policy and the maturity of animal welfare science, we identify and explore the potential impact of these current debates and argue that they have the potential for profound change in our understanding of, and our response to, the welfare of animals. We conclude the paper with a number of possible recommendations for how a scientifically informed, sustainable animal welfare policy might flourish.