Sustainability in the Canadian Egg Industry—Learning from the Past, Navigating the Present, Planning for the Future

Abstract

Like other livestock sectors, the Canadian egg industry has evolved substantially over time and will likely experience similarly significant change looking forward, with many of these changes determining the sustainability implications of and for the industry. Influencing factors include: technological and management changes at farm level and along the value chain resulting in greater production efficiencies and improved life cycle resource efficiency and environmental performance; a changing policy/regulatory environment; and shifts in societal expectations and associated market dynamics, including increased attention to animal welfare outcomes-especially in regard to changes in housing systems for laying hens. In the face of this change, effective decision-making is needed to ensure the sustainability of the Canadian egg industry. Attention both to lessons from the past and to the emerging challenges that will shape its future is required and multi-and interdisciplinary perspectives are needed to understand synergies and potential trade-offs between alternative courses of action across multiple aspects of sustainability. Here, we consider the past, present and potential futures for this industry through the lenses of environmental, institutional (i.e., regulatory), and socio-economic sustainability, with an emphasis on animal welfare as an important emergent social consideration. Our analysis identifies preferred pathways, potential pitfalls, and outstanding cross-disciplinary research questions.

Achieving Environmentally Sustainable Livestock Production

“…The scope of the papers included in this Special Issue range from farm level mitigation methods to national level system changes. One of the national-level articles, written by Pelletier et al [7], presents an overview of the sustainability of the Canadian egg production industry. The authors provide an interdisciplinary perspective to this industry, considering its past, present, and potential futures.…”

Modelling alternative management scenarios of economic and environmental sustainability of beef finishing systems

“…Moreover, further research is needed to determine the socio-economic implications of shifting between alternative beef farming systems. Future research should assess the "gate-to-gate" social risks and benefits of Scottish beef finishing systems considering indicators of socio-economic sustainability like demographics, economic activity and community aspects (Pelletier et al, 2018a;Revéret et al, 2015). Working with a social life cycle assessment framework to identify the relevant stakeholder groups (e.g.…”

“…workers, local community, society, value chain partners) and social themes (e.g. access to resources, fair salary, health and safety, social benefits, equal opportunities, local employment, community engagement) could provide insights, supplementing research done on financial and environmental aspects to inform future policies (Pelletier et al, 2018b(Pelletier et al, , 2018a).…”

Considerations on the Environmental and Social Sustainability of Animal-Based Policies

“…In such a framework, the livestock sector is receiving high pressures to address sustainability challenges, both from environmental and social perspectives [4]: In fact, the contribution of livestock farming to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to worsening of animal welfare have become topics of utmost importance.…”

“…Improving the welfare status of livestock is a way to ensure high production efficiency of livestock, while keeping the GHG emission intensity at the minimal level [22]. Also Pelletier et al [4], who deepened on environmental and socio-economic sustainability of the Canadian egg production industry with a particular focus on animal welfare, recommend the development of management strategies to optimise production in alternative housing systems, able to ensure more environmentally sustainable outcomes. While a number of studies have investigated the implications of animal welfare provisions on the environmental performance of the livestock sector, to the best of our knowledge none have analysed which factors affect the adoption of measures of animal welfare.…”