Calls for compensation for welfare costs
Image: Christine Wieck, University of Hohenheim
Though many dairy farmers are unhappy about the increased cost of having to deal with new animal welfare regulations, the dairies have already included welfare in the added values, which should sell the products to the consumers. The ongoing reforms of animal welfare policy in the European Union (EU) offer great opportunities for the targeted promotion of dairy farms, but for this to happen, animal welfare data must be linked to agricultural, trade and nutrition policy, concludes professor Christine Wieck at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, who also underlines that the extra costs need to be compensated.
The European Commission is currently revising the regulations for animal welfare in agriculture and the so-called ‘fitness check’ has recently been completed. It serves to check the effects of the existing animal welfare regulations and to improve them if necessary. Christine Wieck and the research assistant Sara Dusel have been part of workforce behind the regulation work and their expertise helps to find promising options for action and to assess the effects of planned measures.
According to the researchers, the existing regulations have brought advances in animal welfare in agriculture, but differences in application and enforcement continue to hamper the internal market and the achievement of a comparable level of animal welfare in the EU.
“There is a lack of information about the conditions under which the animals are kept, transported and slaughtered in the individual member states”, regrets Christine Wieck
“In addition, the existing regulations focus on resources, such as space and management measures. The well-being of the animals is still too little recorded on the animals themselves. Even if the existing EU rules were fully implemented, they could probably only ensure that certain basic requirements for animal welfare are met. Animal welfare is not sufficiently determined based on the condition of the animals.”
In order to provide information for the fitness check, the advantages and risks of different husbandry systems have been derived from the scientific literature and expert knowledge was consulted.
“This enabled a rough estimate of the impact of EU regulations on animals, farms and other stakeholders”, explains Sara Dusel.
In the opinion of the two scientists, the conversion of agriculture to substantially higher animal welfare standards will not work through the market alone, which underlines the need for public measures to improve animal welfare.
“A crucial point is the financial incentive. But there is currently no comprehensive financing strategy at EU level that links agricultural, trade and food policy, systematically links payments to progress in animal welfare and thus ensures targeted financial support for the transition to higher animal welfare standards”, says Christine Wieck.
In addition to the common agricultural policy, the researchers believe that there are already promising initiatives, which can advance animal welfare at EU level and should therefore be strengthened. These include the planned EU animal welfare label, possible EU animal welfare monitoring and the inclusion of equivalent animal welfare standards in EU trade agreements so that EU standards are not undermined by cheaper imports.
