Deblond, 2006 – An Ethical Toolkit for Food Companies: Reflections on its use
Nowadays many debates are going on that relate to the agricultural and food sector. It looks as if present technological …
Nowadays many debates are going on that relate to the agricultural and food sector. It looks as if present technological …
Organic agriculture addresses the public demand to diminish environmental pollution of agricultural production. Until now, however, only few studies tried …
A variety of policy strategies have been proposed and argued as capable of delivering more sustainable food systems, and accompanying …
Procedures that increase the sustainability of agriculture often result in animals being treated more humanely: both livestock in animal and mixed farming and wildlife in arable farming. Equally, procedures ensuring humane treatment of farm animals often increase sustainability, for example in disease control and manure management. This overlap between sustainability and humaneness is not coincidental. …
This paper is the report of a meeting that gathered many of the UK’s most senior animal scientists with representatives of the farming industry, consumer groups, animal welfare groups, and environmentalists. There was strong consensus that the current economic structure of agriculture cannot adequately address major issues of concern to society: farm incomes, food security …
1. The effect of light intensity on social communication in laying hens was investigated experimentally by comparing the transmission and …
The provision for dustbathing material will be a legal requirement in cage-housing systems for laying hens within the European Union beginning in 2012. At present, food particles are widely used and typically offered in small amounts on Astroturf mats one or more times per day to facilitate dustbathing, pecking, and scratching. In the present study, …
Feather pecking (FP) is a major welfare problem in laying hens, influenced by multiple factors. FP is thought to be redirected foraging behaviour, however fearful birds are also known to be more sensitive to develop FP. The relationship between fear-responses, foraging and FP is not well understood, thereforewestudied the behaviour of 16 birds from a …
Farm-level factors that could be associated with feather pecking of layers kept in organic farming systems were monitored in 63 flocks from 26 farms located in different areas of The Netherlands. Data on housing and management practices were collected and plumage damage as a measure of feather pecking was scored at 50 weeks of age …
In this study, laying hen welfare is taken into account as part of an overall ‘egg safety and quality concept’. A holistic approach is adopted that encompasses the whole food chain in which responsibility for the production of safe and high quality eggs is shared along the entire food chain. Scientific data on egg quality …
1. The aim was to assess eggshell contamination in various laying hen-housing systems and to identify factors influencing this contamination. …
The production system using cages is a highly polemical issue in Europe, because of the space restriction imposed to laying …
This paper reviews the existing body of scientific literature relevant to organic poultry production, in order to assess, and where possible quantify, the key issues affecting welfare. The review consists of three parts, covering healthrelated welfare issues in organic poultry production systems (breed suitability; nutrition; feed contribution from the range, range use and group size), …
Organic farming in Europe has increased during the last decade but the market share is still relatively low with less than 3% of farmed arable land and an even smaller proportion of farm animal species raised in organic livestock production systems. In many aspects, the biological and ethological needs of animals in organic farming systems …
The results of two independent empirical studies with Flemish citizens were combined to address the problem of a short fall of information provision about higher welfare products. The research objectives were (1) to improve our understanding of how citizens conceptualize farm animal welfare, (2) to analyze the variety in the claimed personal relevance of animal …
Welfare of animals in livestock production systems is now widely defined in terms of 3 classes of measures: veterinary health, mental well-being (or feelings), and natural behaviors. Several well-documented points of tension exist among welfare indicators in these 3 classes. Strategies that aim to improve welfare using genetics can increase resistance to disease and may …
The combination of breeding for increased production and the intensification of housing conditions have resulted in increased occurrence of behavioral, physiological, and immunological disorders. These disorders affect health and welfare of production animals negatively. For future livestock systems, it is important to consider how to manage and breed production animals. In this paper, we will …
The objective of this paper is to outline challenges associated with the inclusion of welfare issues in breeding goals for farm animals and to review the currently available methodologies and discuss their potential advantages and limitations to address these challenges. The methodology for weighing production traits with respect to cost efficiency and market prices are …