Conflicts between chicken welfare and public health risks in poultry husbandry : stakeholders’ perceptions and moral convictions

Abstract

Different perceptions of issues, such as hen welfare and public health risks, may lead to conflicting perceptions of the best husbandry system for laying hens. Insight into these perceptions may help to address societal concerns about hen husbandry. To this end, perceptions of the best hen husbandry system and the importance of 10 issues of laying hen husbandry were studied in three stakeholder groups in the Netherlands: poultry farmers (n = 100), poultry veterinarians (n = 41) and citizens (n = 2259). Most citizens (73%) perceived an outdoor system as the best system, while most farmers (71%) and veterinarians (93%) perceived an indoor system as the best husbandry system. Citizens perceived the issues 'natural needs of hens' and 'environmentally friendly' as more important and the issues 'hen health', 'farmer income' and 'hens lay many eggs' as less important than did farmers and veterinarians. The issues 'food safety' and 'public health' were perceived important by the three groups. Citizens' preference for a more extensive system was associated with a higher importance of 'hen welfare', 'natural needs of hens' and 'environmentally friendly', and a lower importance of 'hens lay many eggs', 'farmer income' and 'hens lay many eggs'. Being female citizen and experience with animals was associated with the preference for an outdoor system. Moral values may underlie the different perceptions within and between stakeholder groups. Interactive multi-stakeholder design methods, which addresses stakeholders' perceptions and values, seem a suitable way to design husbandry systems which address societal concerns.

Contrasting perspectives on the risks of intensive livestock farming in The Netherlands: a survey study

“…The demonstrated divide between farmers and the general public regarding their attitude and concerns about ILF and its place in society further complements the findings from earlier more focused studies about animal welfare (Bokma-Bakker et al. 2011 ; Te Velde, Aarts, and Van Woerkum 2002 ; van Asselt 2019 ; Vanhonacker et al. 2008 ).…”

“…Concerns were measured by asking to what extent they were concerned with a list of aspects on 5-point Likert scale 1 (not concerned) to 5 (very concerned). Lastly, a range of socio-demographic information was collected of the participants, which were selected according to the literature on perceptions of livestock farming (Boogaard 2009 ; van Asselt 2019 ), such as age, gender, educational level, frequency of meat consumption, donator/member to a nature or animal welfare organisation. Table 1 provides an overview of the topics, constructs, items and answer categories.…”