Animal welfare decisions in Dutch poultry and pig farms

Abstract The minimum level of animal welfare (AW) is guaranteed by EU and national legislation in most European countries. Within the current international economic and political environment further improvements in the welfare of farm animals predominantly rely on market initiatives. Market initiatives set requirements in terms of AW that exceed the legal minimum standards. Participation in a particular market initiative is a voluntary choice of the farmer. The overall objective of this dissertation was to analyze the factors that determine farmers’ decision-making with regard to the implementation of AW standards, and to identify barriers to the adoption of above-legal AW standards at farm level. In this dissertation farmers’ decision-making is conceptualized as a process in which farmers trade off financial and non-financial goals. Financial goals relate to monetary aspects, whereas non-financial goals appeals to farmers’ intrinsic motivation to improve AW. This dissertation suggests that broiler and fattening pig farmers do not have a strong intrinsic motivation to switch to a production system that provides higher level of AW than the minimum legal requirements. In this respect, at farm level certain financial preconditions have to be met to enable farmers to adopt higher AW standards. More specifically, farmers require a price premium that is at least sufficient to cover extra costs as a result of higher animal welfare standards. Furthermore, it is important to manage the (perceived) uncertainty of the market and price premiums. These imply that middle-market segment could be attractive for farmers due to its high cost-efficiency, i.e., realize the highest relative increase in AW at the lowest costs, which is also in the best interest of other stakeholders in the supply chain. Furthermore as switching to a middle-market system primarily affects variable costs farmers are given the flexibility to revert to the conventional system if their expectations are not met. Middle-market segment products, as they improve on many production attributes related to AW, may also offer alternatives for consumers that take many attributes into account to form an opinion of the animal friendliness of a production system. In the light of the foregoing, further development of the middle-market segment appears to be a reasonable direction in improving AW. In order to facilitate the further development of the middle-market segment a high involvement of all stakeholders in the supply chain, i.e., slaughterhouses, processors, retail, NGOs, and the government as well is required.</p

Quality Management in Broiler and Pork Supply Chains Aimed at Reducing Risks of Antimicrobial Resistance: an Elicitation Workshop

Development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered to be one of the main human health problems. Livestock production, particularly hog and broiler production, are regarded as sources of human exposure to resistant pathogens. It is envisaged that the issue of AMR will be on the agenda of both policy makers at various levels (e.g. supra-national (EU), national and production organisations) and researchers. In the last decade a large range of (potential) exposure and/or risk reducing measures have become available or are envisaged. Examples are:− On-farm: reduction of usage of antimicrobial agents, more robust animals, therapeutic alternatives to antimicrobials and increased bio-security;− Beyond-farm: various cleansing and disinfection measures, cross-contamination reducing logistics within the entire chain, various types of meat processing ways which reduce the prevalence of pathogens and further contamination.Chain-wide implementation of (sets of these) measures is complex and involves simultaneous consideration of various issues, such as: the potential to reduce microbial exposure to humans, the (economic) impact on livestock production, (cost-)effectivity technology and acceptance by the general public, asymmetry of effects and costs between chain participants, the risk of counteracting risk-reduction downstream the chain, legal and institutional thresholds, compliance and governance. Quantitative risk-based economic analysis of (sets of) measures throughout the supply chain can support decision making in this regard. Such analysis should be comprehensive and focused on optimal (i.e. low risks and low additional costs) and coherent sets of measures.Given the complexity of the matters, a conceptual framework was developed to facilitate subsequent quantitative analysis. This framework describes qualitatively all possible factors and aspects that influence both human exposure to pathogens and economic performance. Two levels are considered: (1) the on-farm level and (2) the beyond-farm level up to consumer. Moreover, the issue of (economics of) (non-) compliance is included. Furthermore, the framework includes a rather complete list of risk reducing measures and their direct and indirect relations with human exposure and production costs.Because (1) the range of potential measures, and (2) the range of various criteria each (set of) measures can be characterized by and on which they can have positive or negative impacts on, analysing all options together is quite laborious. Therefore, it makes sense to elicit a set of promising measures for subsequent quantitative analysis

Pig farmers’ willingness to pay for management strategies to reduce aggression between pigs

When deciding whether to invest in an improvement to animal welfare, farmers must trade-off the relative costs and benefits. Despite the existence of effective solutions to many animal welfare issues, farmers’ willingness to pay for them is largely unknown. This study modelled pig farmers’ decisions to improve animal welfare using a discrete choice experiment focused on alleviating aggression between growing/finishing pigs at regrouping. Eighty-two UK and Irish pig farm owners and managers were asked to choose between hypothetical aggression control strategies described in terms of four attributes; installation cost, on-going cost, impact on skin lesions from aggression and impact on growth rate. If they did not like any of the strategies they could opt to keep their current farm practice. Systematic variations in product attributes allowed farmers’ preferences and willingness to pay to be estimated and latent class modelling accounted for heterogeneity in responses. The overall willingness to pay to reduce lesions was low at £0.06 per pig place (installation cost) and £0.01 per pig produced (running cost) for each 1% reduction in lesions. Results revealed three independent classes of farmers. Farmers in Class 1 were unlikely to regroup unfamiliar growing/finishing pigs, and thus were unwilling to adopt measures to reduce aggression at regrouping. Farmers in Classes 2 and 3 were willing to adopt measures providing certain pre-conditions were met. Farmers in Class 2 were motivated mainly by business goals, whilst farmers in Class 3 were motivated by both business and animal welfare goals, and were willing to pay the most to reduce aggression; £0.11 per pig place and £0.03 per pig produced for each 1% reduction in lesions. Farmers should not be considered a homogeneous group regarding the adoption of animal welfare innovations. Instead, campaigns should be targeted at subgroups according to their independent preferences and willingness to pay

Quality Management in Broiler and Pork Supply Chains Aimed at Reducing Risks of Antimicrobial Resistance: an Elicitation Workshop

Development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered to be one of the main human health problems. Livestock production, particularly hog and broiler production, are regarded as sources of human exposure to resistant pathogens. It is envisaged that the issue of AMR will be on the agenda of both policy makers at various levels (e.g. supra-national (EU), national and production organisations) and researchers. In the last decade a large range of (potential) exposure and/or risk reducing measures have become available or are envisaged. Examples are: − On-farm: reduction of usage of antimicrobial agents, more robust animals, therapeutic alternatives to antimicrobials and increased bio-security; − Beyond-farm: various cleansing and disinfection measures, cross-contamination reducing logistics within the entire chain, various types of meat processing ways which reduce the prevalence of pathogens and further contamination. Chain-wide implementation of (sets of these) measures is complex and involves simultaneous consideration of various issues, such as: the potential to reduce microbial exposure to humans, the (economic) impact on livestock production, (cost-)effectivity technology and acceptance by the general public, asymmetry of effects and costs between chain participants, the risk of counteracting risk-reduction downstream the chain, legal and institutional thresholds, compliance and governance. Quantitative risk-based economic analysis of (sets of) measures throughout the supply chain can support decision making in this regard. Such analysis should be comprehensive and focused on optimal (i.e. low risks and low additional costs) and coherent sets of measures. Given the complexity of the matters, a conceptual framework was developed to facilitate subsequent quantitative analysis. This framework describes qualitatively all possible factors and aspects that influence both human exposure to pathogens and economic performance. Two levels are considered: (1) the on-farm level and (2) the beyond-farm level up to consumer. Moreover, the issue of (economics of) (non-) compliance is included. Furthermore, the framework includes a rather complete list of risk reducing measures and their direct and indirect relations with human exposure and production costs. Because (1) the range of potential measures, and (2) the range of various criteria each (set of) measures can be characterized by and on which they can have positive or negative impacts on, analysing all options together is quite laborious. Therefore, it makes sense to elicit a set of promising measures for subsequent quantitative analysis. The aim of this workshop is to perform such an elicitation with experts in the field of supply chain management; in this workshop elicitation, the emphasis will be on supply chain management characteristics of AMR reducing measures, such as: (1) organisation, governance and management of the supply chain, (2) envisaged effects and costs, (3) legal and institutional possibilities. The focus will be at the beyond farm level, i.e. the range between transport and retail

Mid-term financial impact of animal welfare improvements

This study used a stochastic bioeconomic simulation model to simulate the business and financial risk of different broiler production systems over a 5-yr period. Simulation analysis was conducted using the @Risk add-in in MS Excel. To compare the impact of different production systems on economic feasibility, 2 cases were considered. The first case focused on the economic feasibility of a completely new system, whereas the second examined economic feasibilities when a farm switches from a conventional to an animal welfare-improving production system. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the key drivers of economic feasibility and to reveal systematic differences across production systems. The study shows that economic feasibility of systems with improved animal welfare predominantly depends on the price that farmers receive. Moreover, the study demonstrates the importance of the level and variation of the price premium for improved welfare, particularly in the first 5 yr after conversion. The economic feasibility of the production system increases with the level of welfare improvements for a sufficiently high price level for broiler meat and low volatility in producer prices. If this is not the case, however, risk attitudes of farmers become important as well as the use of potential risk management instruments

Economic feasibility of animal welfare improvements in Dutch intensive livestock production: A comparison between broiler, laying hen, and fattening pig farms

This study compared the economic feasibility of production systems with different levels of animal welfare (AW) in the broiler, laying hen, and fattening pig sectors. Economic feasibility over a five-year time horizon was assessed using stochastic bio-economic simulation models. The results suggest that the main determinant of economic feasibility in each sector is the producer price. It is not only the level of the price premium but also the certainty and variability of this premium that is important in the decision to convert to an alternative system. From the perspective of the farm, different approaches should be followed in the three sectors to further develop the market for products with higher levels of AW. The results imply that the broiler sector has the best perspective in the short to medium term for developing this market. In the fattening pig sector, conversion options should be made more financially attractive, for example by increasing price premiums or providing conversion subsidies. The laying hen sector has the worst prospects for improving AW in the short to medium term. Therefore, given the current production systems in this sector, producer price premiums need to be increased in order to increase the adoption of alternative production systems

Effects of different broiler production systems on health care costs in the Netherlands

This study analyzed the effects of different broiler production systems on health care costs in the Netherlands. In addition to the conventional production system, the analysis also included 5 alternative animal welfare systems representative of the Netherlands. The study was limited to the most prevalent and economically relevant endemic diseases in the broiler farms. Health care costs consisted of losses and expenditures. The study investigated whether higher animal welfare standards increased health care costs, in both absolute and relative terms, and also examined which cost components (losses or expenditures) were affected and, if so, to what extent. The results show that health care costs represent only a small proportion of total production costs in each production system. Losses account for the major part of health care costs, which makes it difficult to detect the actual effect of diseases on total health care costs. We conclude that, although differences in health care costs exist across production systems, health care costs only make a minor contribution to the total production costs relative to other costs, such as feed costs and purchase of 1-d-old chicks

Reducing risks of human exposure to antimicrobial resistance originating from livestock supply chains

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest health threats for both humans and animals. This justifies the need for a conceptual framework that provides an integrated assessment of the measures and strategies that can be applied within livestock supply chains to reduce the risks of human exposure to resistant pathogens. The aim of this study is therefore to provide a comprehensive supply chain-based conceptualisation that describes the main measures and strategies to Rev. Sci. Tech. Off. Int. Epiz., 39 (3) 2 2/26 reduce the risks of human exposure to resistant pathogens. The conceptual framework presented in this study makes a distinction between on-farm and beyond-farm decision-making contexts. The on-farm decision-making context focuses on the strategies that can reduce antimicrobial use. The beyond-farm decision-making context focuses on the prevalence of (pathogenic) microorganisms. The focus of this framework is on Western European food production systems. A panel consisting of Dutch policy makers on antimicrobial issues assessed various aspects of the framework, including correctness, completeness and consistency. It is concluded that the conceptual framework provides a sound theoretical basis for economic decision-support for policy makers to reduce the risks of human exposure to resistant pathogens originating from livestock supply chains

A conceptual approach for a quantitative economic analysis of farmers’ decision-making regarding animal welfare

Decisions related to animal welfare (AW) standards depend on farmer’s multiple goals and values and are constrained by a wide range of external and internal forces. The aim of this paper is twofold, i.e., (1) to develop a theoretical framework for farmers’ AW decisions that incorporates farmers’ goals, use and non-use values and (2) to present an approach to empirically implement the theoretical framework. The farmer as a head of the farm household makes choices regarding production to maximize the utility of the household. The overall utility of the farmer is determined by his multiple objectives. For the analysis of multi-objective problems, the multiple criteria decision-making paradigm provides an appropriate theoretical framework. However, theories from the field of social-psychology are needed to facilitate the identification of all relevant aspects in the decision making (i.e., factors that explain behavior). The practical use of the conceptual framework is demonstrated using a simple numerical application of a multi-objective programming model. Two workshops were devoted to examining the scientific consistency and the practical usefulness of the approach. Implementing this approach will increase knowledge of the main factors and barriers that determine farmers’ decisions with regard to AW standards. This knowledge is relevant during the development of new AW concepts that aims to supply products that comply with above-legal AW standards for middle-market segments

Willingness of Dutch broiler and pig farmers to convert to production systems with improved welfare

The present study investigated 15 broiler and 13 fattening pig farmers' willingness-to-convert to alternative production systems with higher animal welfare standards compared to conventional production systems in The Netherlands, and explored the main barriers to the adoption of these alternative systems. Alternative production systems were categorised, according to whether farmers were required to make reversible or irreversible changes to the current farm. Two out of the four pig systems in the study were considered as reversible, whereas the other two as irreversible. One out of the four broiler systems presented was considered as reversible, whereas the other three as irreversible. Results show that to convert to a system requiring irreversible changes 83 and 85% (figures for each of the two irreversible systems) of the surveyed fattening pig farmers required a 30% or higher increase in their family income, while to convert to a system requiring reversible changes 8 and 23% of the pig farmers required a similar level of increase. Also, for each of the three irreversible systems, 62, 64 and 87% of the surveyed broiler farmers required a 30% or higher increase in their family income to a system requiring irreversible changes, while to convert to a system requiring reversible changes, 20% of the broiler farmers required a similar level of increase. Thirty-eight and 62% of the fattening pig farmers and 40% of the broiler farmers were willing to convert to the specific systems that allowed reversible changes if they knew they could earn the same income as they did in their current system. This study highlights a number of reasons for farmers' reluctance to switch to alternative systems: perceived uncertainty about price premiums, lack of space on the farm, scarcity of land nearby the farm, risk of disease spread, the existing farm set-up, prohibition of tail docking, allowing for castration, and views that proposed alternatives were 'farmer-unfriendly' or impractical