Integrating improved animal welfare and sustainable development within the Swedish broiler industry

Consumption of chicken meat is increasing as people believe it is healthier, better for the environment and cheaper.

The Swedish Food Strategy identified increasing resource and production efficiency as important for a sustainable national food production.

At the same time, the broiler industry is considered one of the most intensive and is often criticised by welfare organisations.

This project uses on-farm studies, focus group meetings with stakeholders, and a multi-disciplinary international expert working group to explore ways to manage these different expectations and perceptions.

The first part of this industry-academia collaboration involves testing under commercial conditions an innovative rearing approach for broiler breeders, that has previously been shown to promote long-term behavioural adaptability and immunocompetence in laying hens.

The second part will take advantage of a recently developed method to quantify different goals related to sustainable development and animal welfare.

Knowledge around synergies and conflicts is a step towards prioritising different goals and managing trade-offs between them.

By focusing on integrating these two areas, we aim to make a significant contribution towards the sustainable development of the Swedish broiler industry.

These novel welfare improvement and strategic development approaches may also serve as models for other farm sectors and countries in their work within the EU Farm to Fork initiative and Agenda 2030.