Citizens, consumers and farm animal welfare: A meta-analysis of willingness-to-pay studies

Beth Clark, Gavin B. Stewart, Luca A. Panzone, Ilias Kyriazakis, Lynn J. Frewer
2017 Food Policy  
Newcastle University ePrints -eprint.ncl.ac.uk Clark B, Stewart G, Panzone L, Kyriazakis I, Frewer LJ. Citizens, consumers and farm animal welfare: A meta-analysis of willingness-to-pay studies. The sustainable intensification of animal production systems is increasing as a consequence of 7 increased demand for foods originating from animals. Production diseases are particularly endemic in 8 intensive production systems, and can negatively impact upon farm animal welfare. There is an 9
more » ... g need to develop policies regarding animal production diseases, sustainable intensification, 10 and animal welfare which incorporate consumer priorities as well as technical assessments of farm 11 animal welfare. Consumers and/or citizens may have concerns about intensive production systems, 12 and whether animal production disease represent a barrier to consumer acceptance of their increased 13 use. There is a considerable body of research focused on consumer willingness-to-pay (WTP) for 14 improved animal welfare. It is not clear how this relates specifically to a preference for reduced 15 animal production disease incidence in animal production systems. A systematic review and meta-16 analysis were conducted to establish the publics' WTP for farm animal welfare, with a focus on 17 production diseases which arise in intensive systems. Systematic review methodology combined with 18 data synthesis was applied to integrate existing knowledge regarding consumer WTP for animal 19 welfare, and reduced incidence of animal production diseases. Multiple databases were searched to 20 identify relevant studies. A screening process, using a set of pre-determined inclusion criteria, 21 identified 54 studies, with the strength of evidence and uncertainty for each study being assessed. A 22 random effects meta-analysis was used to explore heterogeneity in relation to a number of factors, 23 with a cumulative meta-analysis conducted to establish changes in WTP over time. The results 24 indicated a small, positive WTP (0.63 standard deviations) for farm animal welfare varying in relation 25 to a number of factors including animal type and region. Socio-demographic characteristics explained 26 the most variation in the data. An evidence gap was highlighted in relation to reduced WTP for 27 specific production diseases associated with the intensification of production, with only 4 of the 54 28 studies identified being related to this. A combination of market and government based policy 29 solutions appears to be the best solution for improving farm animal welfare standards in the future, 30 enabling the diverse public preferences to be taken into consideration. 31 Keywords 32 Systematic review; animal production diseases; willingness-to-pay; farm animal welfare policy; 33 policy options 34 Highlights 35  Overall a small consumer WTP for farm animal welfare was identified 36  Only 4 of the 54 studies established WTP for reduced production diseases 37  Differences in WTP for welfare existed between animal type, regions and population 38  Gaps in evidence for policy development were identified 39  The results support the use multiple policy options for improving animal welfare 40 41
doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2017.01.006 fatcat:dgksl4ueczcsdhckzi2niat5w4