Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
producers, non-governmental organizations and
policy makers, to identify issues important to egg
production in the Netherlands. The major sus-
tainability weaknesses, strengths, threats and
opportunities identified during the brainstorm-
ing session for egg production in conventional
cages related to animal welfare and health, envi-
ronment, egg quality, ergonomics, economics,
consumer concerns, and knowledge and innova-
tion. Sustainability aspects of different egg pro-
duction systems were quantified with reference
to issues identified both by this type of participa-
tory analyses and literature reviews (de Boer and
Cornelissen, 2002). This process involved select-
ing indicators that were measurable and then
assigning a target value for each based on politi-
cal goals, scientific knowledge (Mollenhorst
et al
.,
2006), or expert judgement. Once such values
are assigned, the contribution of each individual
indicator to the overall sustainability is deter-
mined mathematically. De Boer and Cornelissen
(2002) used just such a method to compare
different hen-housing systems, by assigning val-
ues for measurable aspects of important eco-
nomic, ecological and social (animal welfare,
egg quality, farmer welfare, and odour nuisance)
concerns and then creating a sustainability
index. Although such approaches are useful
attempts at integrating information to arrive at
decisions about sustainability, at some point
they also involve making value judgements
about relevant indicators, appropriate measure-
ment methods and/or how to rank or weight
different indicators (Swanson
et al
., 2011).
Indeed, some concerns about aspects of
modern animal agriculture are not easily
addressed by either science or assessment
schemes. The industrial scale of animal agricul-
ture, for example, may always face challenges in
terms of public acceptability. For example, large-
scale farms offer economic advantages, but limit
the amount of attention an individual animal
receives. A typical cage layer house in the USA
can contain 125,000 or more hens. If workers
were to look at each bird for only 1 s day
−1
, this
evaluation would take 35 h day
−1
, considerably
more worker-hours than are currently devoted to
this aspect of management. Although it would
be possible to increase the amount of attention
each hen receives by hiring more workers, one of
the major economic efficiencies associated with
large-scale egg production comes about because
of the reductions in labour cost resulting from
increased automation. In addition, this is a con-
servative estimate of the labour and possible
financial cost required for individual care of
each hen because even catching and euthaniz-
ing sick hens identified in the process would
clearly take longer than 1 s per animal. For some
non-poultry species large farms may be able to
use technology to monitor individual animals to
improve disease detection. However, this solu-
tion is dependent on the production system.
Finally, large farms may well be situated to pro-
vide benefits such as consistent feed quality,
skilled labour, and to undergo third-party audit-
ing schemes. The issues inherent to large-scale
animal agriculture (e.g. individual care, concen-
tration of manure in a single location) are
important considerations in any further intensi-
fication in the name of sustainability. A long-
term, comprehensive approach that takes into
consideration public acceptability is needed in
any discussion of sustainable animal production
systems and, to date, there is no assessment
scheme that encompasses all of this complexity.
Conclusions
Concerns about environmental, economic and
social impacts of food production are all rooted in
public acceptability. Animal welfare is emerging as
one of the key public concerns regarding animal
agriculture. In this way, animal welfare is an inte-
gral component of sustainability. Public concerns
about the humaneness of food animal production
can result in banning of specific practices or even
elimination of entire housing systems. The scien-
tific study of animal welfare informs public policy
and regulation about animal welfare, but is often
given differing levels of emphasis based on the
values and priorities of various stakeholders.
The challenges associated with consider-
ing all aspects of sustainability, including ani-
mal welfare, have only begun to be addressed.
For example, when considering the relationship
of animal welfare to other aspects of sustaina-
bility, there are examples where improvements
to animal welfare can support or conflict with
regards to these other types of concerns. To
address this complexity, sustainability assess-
ment schemes have begun to incorporate ani-
mal welfare with other aspects of sustainability,
