Farmers leading the way in pig welfare with WelFarmers
Edgar Garcia Manzanilla, tells us that the EU is on its way to produce new regulations in the area of animal welfare.
These regulations are based on consumer demands and scientific evidence. However, farmers have protested on several occasions that the way that these regulations have been brought to them with a top-down approach is unsatisfactory. Farmers do not oppose these changes but rather they want to part of the conversation from the beginning and they want an open conversation on things such as requirements for third country imports, spreading the cost along the food chain or implementation timelines.
To be proactive and produce information on the existing good and best practice in the area of pig welfare, farmer organisations from 8 EU countries (Spain, France, Ireland, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Romania and Italy) representing more than 50% of the pig herd in the EU have put together project WelFarmers.
The kick-off meeting of the project took place in Montijo, Portugal, this February with participation from IFA and Teagasc Irish representatives. Pig farmers, advisors and researchers joined forces in a very promising effort to identify the best existing approaches to tackle welfare issues on the four very important pig welfare themes in the EU:
- Loose housing facilities for lactating sows
- Methods to reduce pain during castration
- Methods to raise undocked pigs
- Optimisation of space allowance and flooring for fatteners
Within these four themes, 192 good practices will be identified across the EU and evaluated by experts in the area including farmers, technical advisors and researchers. The selected best practices will be awarded the title of WelFarmers Champions and, more importantly, plenty of dissemination materials will be produced so that farmers all over the world can explore these best practices. The materials include virtual tours that allow farmers to visit the farms virtually in detail, with no need to travel. Webinars and podcasts where the farmers will be asked all the relevant details on their best practices. All best practices will also be submitted for cost-benefit analysis and sustainability assessment.
WelFarmers will follow a similar structure to the previous EUPIG project which was very successful in disseminating best practice in pig farming across the EU. However, this time the EU has allowed farmers to be part of the project in a more flexible way due to changes in the budget and there are already several activates planned along the 3 years of project to engage producers as much as possible.
There will be one Regional Network (RN) in each of the participating countries. These RNs will be coordinated nationally by farmer organizations and coordinated at EU Level by Thematic Groups. The RNs will collect best practice examples at national level and will disseminate the results of the project among national farmers. All materials produced will be free and available on the website of a partner specialised in pig communications, 333, a news site about the pig production chain from pig to pork. It contains articles by swine specialists on health, management, environment, biosecurity, welfare, genetics, facilities and markets, as well as news, pig prices, clinical cases and events, in 14 different languages.