Swanson, 2011 – Integration: Valuing stakeholder input in setting priorities for socially sustainable egg production

Setting directions and goals for animal production systems requires the integration of information achieved through internal and external processes. The importance of stakeholder input in setting goals for sustainable animal production systems should not be overlooked by the agricultural animal industries. Stakeholders play an integral role in setting the course for many aspects of animal production, from influencing consumer preferences to setting public policy. The Socially Sustainable Egg Production Project (SSEP)involved the development of white papers on various aspects of egg production, followed by a stake holder workshop to help frame the issues for the future of sustainable egg production. Representatives from the environmental, food safety, food retail, consumer, animal welfare, and the general farm and egg production sectors participated with members of the SSEP coordination team in a 1.5-d workshop to explore socially sustainable egg production. This paper reviews the published literature on values integration methodologies and the lessons learned from animal welfare assessment models. The integration method used for the SSEP stake holder workshop and its outcome are then summarized. The method used for the SSEP stakeholder workshop canbe used to obtain stakeholder input on sustainable production in other farm animal industries.