Pig in the middle: farmers and the delivery of farm animal welfare standards

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitude of UK pig farmers to the delivery of improved farm animal welfare standards and to investigate how they contribute to this objective through their membership of a range of different farm assurance schemes.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis focuses on three main groups of pig farmers: farmers engaged in conventional farm assurance schemes; farmers participating in specific animal welfare schemes; and certified organic farmers. In total 54 farmers were interviewed about their participation in farm assurance schemes and their attitudes to animal welfare and towards the retailers and consumers they supply. Each answer was analysed individually and a list of themes identified for each type of scheme. These were compared and synthesised in an overall analysis.Findings – The analysis identified how differently or similarly the different groups of farmers viewed the issues related to animal welfare. The findings revealed that, while farmers sh...

[1]  D. Fraser.  Understanding animal welfare , 2008, Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica.

[2]  I. Duncan.  Science-based assessment of animal welfare: farm animals. , 2005, Revue scientifique et technique.

[3]  D. Fraser.  Applying science to animal welfare standards. , 2004 .

[4]  D. Weary,et al.  Theoretical framework: quality of life for farm animals: linking science, ethics, and animal welfare , 2004 .

[5]  S. B. Christiansen,et al.  Farm Animal Welfare: The Interaction of Ethical Questions and Animal Welfare Science , 2003, Animal Welfare.

[6]  C. Morris,et al.  Farm Animal Welfare: A New Repertoire of Nature-Society Relations or Modernism Re-embedded ? , 2003 .

[7]  C. Hewson,et al.  What is animal welfare? Common definitions and their practical consequences. , 2003, The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne.

[8]  Noelle Aarts,et al.  Dealing with Ambivalence: Farmers' and Consumers' Perceptions of Animal Welfare in Livestock Breeding , 2002 .

[9]  G. Harper,et al.  Consumer perception of organic food production and farm animal welfare , 2002 .

[10]  V. Lund,et al.  Outlining a Conception of Animal Welfare for Organic Farming Systems , 2001 .

[11]  A. Webster,et al.  Farm animal welfare: the five freedoms and the free market. , 2001, Veterinary journal.

[12]  A. Nolan,et al.  Conceptual and Methodological Issues Related to Welfare Assessment: A Framework for Measurement , 2001 .

[13]  P. Sandøe,et al.  Animal Welfare as One among Several Values to be Considered at Farm Level: The Idea of an Ethical Account for Livestock Farming , 2001 .

[14]  P. Sandøe,et al.  Assessment of Farm Animal Welfare at Herd Level: Many Goals, Many Methods , 2001 .

[15]  John Spriggs,et al.  BEEF PRODUCER ATTITUDES TO COORDINATION AND QUALITY ASSURANCE IN CANADA AND THE UK , 2000 .

[16]  D. Fraser.  Animal ethics and animal welfare science: bridging the two cultures 1 It is great honour to give thi , 1999 .

[17]  M. Winter,et al.  European agricultural policy and farm animal welfare , 1998 .

[18]  D. Weary,et al.  A Scientific Conception of Animal Welfare that Reflects Ethical Concerns , 1997, Animal Welfare.