Animal welfare and sustainability in pork production: a pilot study of farmer and veterinarian perspectives in North America.

BACKGROUND

The swine industry is under increasing pressure to adopt meaningful animal welfare improvement strategies, yet implementation remains challenging due to competing operational demands and the economic costs associated with many welfare interventions in a pork market that is often volatile. Although good animal welfare is known to enhance productivity, profitability, and long-term sustainability, clearer stakeholder understanding of these relationships is needed to support industry decision making for broader adoption of welfare strategies. This pilot study examined how pork industry stakeholders perceive animal welfare and its role in business decisions related to sustainable production by assessing: [1] how producers and swine veterinarians define animal welfare and the metrics they use to monitor it on-farm; [2] stakeholder understanding of how management procedures influence welfare, whether decisions are driven by welfare or productivity concerns, and whether barriers to implementation exist; and [3] stakeholder perceptions of the relationships between welfare and broader sustainability metrics.

RESULTS

Concept elicitation interviews with open-ended questions were conducted to capture firsthand stakeholder experiences with on-farm welfare management. Ten participants were interviewed; four experienced swine managers and six veterinarians, including seven from Canada and three from the United States. Interviews elicited detailed descriptions of participants' definitions of animal welfare, the management practices they implemented and the motivations behind management decisions, welfare and productivity indicators used, perceived impacts of management practices on staff well-being, and views on the interconnections between welfare, production performance, and overall business sustainability. Producers generally did not provide a clear definition of animal welfare, but referenced welfare indicators they use to assess welfare; these being primarily visible, physical measures related to economically relevant performance metrics. Respondents acknowledged the value of good welfare for profitability and staff well-being, however, welfare considerations typically remained secondary to economic priorities, and practices involving upfront costs were rarely adopted unless mandated.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights that although animal welfare is widely recognized as important to sustainable pork production, its role is not yet fully understood or embedded within the workplace culture or business models of pork production systems.