Animal welfare is not just a question of ethics and animal rights—it also affects the sustainability of food supplies. On World Day for Farmed Animals (October 2nd), we explore how the good treatment of farm animals can improve food sustainability and how robots, sensors and even artificial intelligence can help.
Farmers who rear their chickens, pigs and cattle in good living conditions have fewer outbreaks of disease and produce more meat, experts in the field say. “Animal welfare is really important for food sustainability,” says Daniela Battaglia, head of the animal welfare programme at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). “It contributes to increased production, and therefore more income for the farmer, and contributes to lower environmental impact and better animal and human health,” she adds.
There are many ways in which animal welfare translates into higher production. Well-treated animals are more resistant to disease and will need fewer antibiotics, which in turn reduces the risk of antibiotic resistance developing among animals and humans. Cows produce more milk if they are relaxed, and if animals reach the slaughterhouse in a calm environment, the resulting meat is less likely to be damaged, Ms Battaglia explains.
It can also impact climate change, she adds. Relaxed cattle produce less methane gas, one of the most damaging planet-warming emissions from agriculture.
Some food companies—including Carrefour and Nestlé—are now demanding higher animal welfare standards, partly because of growing consumer pressure, says Ms Battaglia. “Nowadays I think animal welfare is a non-negotiable element, because animals are recognised widely as sentient beings.” So how can farmers go about improving animal welfare?
Cutting the density of animals on farms has been a key focus of improving conditions for intensively reared animals. However, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), sensors, robots and drones could also improve the living conditions of animals reared intensively in cramped conditions.
They can be used to monitor the needs of large numbers of animals continuously through electronic feeding systems and cough-sound analysis to spot respiratory infections, for example. The technologies can monitor how animals are behaving, when they need certain feed or water, or are becoming aggressive or stressed.
“Farmers used to have much closer contact with animals, they could take better care of them. With intensification of production, this element was lost,” explains Ms Battaglia. However, new technologies are an opportunity to monitor animals more closely and improve their welfare.
Poor animal welfare is not just a concern around livestock which are intensively reared indoors. There is also growing interest in using smart technologies to improve conditions for cattle that roam freely. Increasing labour costs and a worldwide decline in the number of large predators means that animals in some parts of the world have little contact with farmers for large parts of the year.
‘Virtual fencing’, which encourages animals to move in a specific direction, could guide livestock to areas of vegetation identified by remote sensing, to shelter when bad weather is forecast, and to handling facilities. Systems could also detect disease and injury early; sick animals can be automatically isolated to limit the spread of the disease.
A priority for developing countries
Strengthening the framework for animal welfare is particularly important in developing countries, where intensive farming is becoming more widespread to meet the growing demand for meat products. Developing countries are expected to account for the vast majority of increases in global meat production, which is projected to grow by about 13% over the next decade.
Many, however, lack regulations on animal welfare, and farmers lack training. According to a report by the OIE, “animal health problems cause significant economic losses in the form of high mortality, the high cost of animal health care, poor animal performance and lost market opportunities”. Many of these problems are caused by inadequate nutrition, especially for poultry.
But attitudes to animal welfare are changing, and many countries, including China, are increasingly looking at the issue, notes Ms Battaglia. For this they can turn to those with the best animal welfare regulations, named as Austria, the UK, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden by the Food Sustainability Index 2018, which covers 67 countries and was developed by The Economist Intelligence Unit with the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition Foundation. Combined with the greater adoption of smart technologies, this could ensure that developing nations are better equipped to improve animal welfare.