European Agricultural Policy And Farm Animal Welfare
This paper examines the impact of European agricultural policy on farm animal welfare through the exploration of two important sectors, dairying and pigs.
Defining farm animal welfare is difficult, though general standards are related to farm structural and enterprise characteristics, which are both heavily influenced by Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Europe. In both the dairying and pig sectors, CAP has encouraged the structural changes that account for the deterioration of farm animal welfare, though both market and technology factors are also important. Additional research is required to isolate the influences of policy on animal welfare.