Abstract
In Europe, there is ongoing social criticism of conventional pig farming and demands for higher farm animal welfare standards. This applies primarily to products from pig production, as consumers criticize, among other things, the animals’ housing conditions, tail docking, neutering, or keeping them on slatted floors. Various animal welfare programs have tried to meet the consumers’ demands. Pig farmers are directly involved in the production process and are therefore key stakeholders for the successful implementation of animal welfare programs such as the German Initiative Animal Welfare. The Initiative Animal Welfare was founded in 2015 and serves as an example in this study, as it has been established for two rounds and involves high numbers of participants. However, little is known about the attitudes of pig farmers towards this specific animal welfare program. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate these attitudes towards animal welfare programs using the example of German pig producers and identify group differences. Based on an online survey of German conventional pig farmers, four clusters were formed which differ in their attitude to the Initiative Animal Welfare. Overall, all farmers, regardless of the cluster, feel publicly pressured by politics and the media. In addition, all farmers are skeptical about the effort involved in participating in the Initiative Animal Welfare (IAW), especially with regard to the additional documentation requirements and unannounced controls. The findings can provide guidance for the design of animal welfare programs taking into account the needs of farmers.
Highlights
The image of conventional livestock farming has been suffering for some time
One possibility for farmers to provide higher farm animal welfare standards is to participate in specific animal welfare programs (AWPs) or programs with higher quality and sustainability standards [12,13]
The first factor, “economic benefit”, describes the assessment of farmers’ financial advantages resulting from Initiative Animal Welfare (IAW) participation and contains seven statements (Cronbach’s Alpha: 0.911). These statements are aimed at ascertaining whether farmers are of the opinion that implementation of farm animal welfare measures under IAW
Summary
The image of conventional livestock farming has been suffering for some time. Due to the constant structural changes and the progressive intensification of agricultural production processes, conventional livestock farming is increasingly subject to public criticism. There is a strong aversion to the current systems of livestock farming, especially for pigs and poultry [3,4]. This increases sensitivity to meat production and processing and to requirements aimed at improving the level of farm animal welfare standards [5,6,7,8]. One possibility for farmers to provide higher farm animal welfare standards is to participate in specific animal welfare programs (AWPs) or programs with higher quality and sustainability standards [12,13]
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