Do Organic Farmers Treat Animals Better

1. Farm Industry Divided Over 'usda Organic' Animal Welfare Rule
2. Factory Farms Provide Abundant Food, But Environment Suffers
3. How Do Organic Farmers Avoid Antibiotics?
4. Humane” Meat, Dairy, And Eggs: How To Decipher Animal Welfare Claims On Food Labels

Animal welfare is one of the most important aspects of organic  farming .   Did you know that the Soil Association has the highest standards for animal welfare of any farming system in the UK?    

These standards insist that animals are given plenty of space and fresh  air, and  are raised in conditions that suit their natural behaviour. As well as requiring that animals are genuinely free-range, the organic standards also cover living conditions, food quality, the use of antibiotics, and transport and slaughter.

By providing the space and environments that animals need, organic farmers can reduce stress and disease (and their consequent side effects) on their farms. This means that animals don’t need to undergo painful mutilations (like beak trimming and tail docking), and it means that there is no need for preventative  antibiotics .    

Farm Industry Divided Over 'usda Organic' Animal Welfare Rule

Unlike many other farming systems, organic cows spend much of their lives outdoors where they can graze naturally on a diet of grass and clover.

Organic pigs are kept in conditions that, as far as possible, allow them to express their natural behaviour. In practice, this means being kept in family groups with free access to fields. Most organic pigs will be outdoors all year round, though indoor housing is permitted in severe weather conditions, provided that there is plenty of straw bedding for the pigs, and continued access to an outdoor run.

There are a number of common practices in the non-organic pig industry that are banned under Soil Association organic standards. These include:

Mythbusting 101: Organic Farming > Conventional Agriculture

The big difference between organic and non-organic sheep farming are the methods used to prevent diseases. For example, on non-organic farms, lambs could be wormed preventatively every four to six weeks. Organic farmers however, are banned from the routine use of antibiotics and wormers, and must instead manage their flocks carefully to reduce disease risk to new-born lambs, and use clean grazing systems to minimise the need for worming:

It is important that the organic principles of health, ecology, fairness and care are applied to fish and shellfish farming, as well as to animals on land. A diverse range of aquatic species are produced in line with organic principles including many different fish species, seaweed and bivalves (mussels, oysters and clams).

The Soil Association was one of the very first organisations to develop organic aquaculture standards for aquatic animal welfare, water quality and human health. Since first published in 2002, many of our aquaculture standards are now enshrined in European law.

Factory Farms Provide Abundant Food, But Environment Suffers

Note: Soil Association also prohibit certified businesses from using calcified seaweed, lithothamne (coral strands), or maerl (algae) in feeds, in order to protect these sensitive habitats.

Ensuring that animals reared for meat and animal products have a good life is at the heart of the Soil Association’s organic standards.   

Treating livestock ethically and meeting their species-specific needs, both physiological and behavioural, is one of the key principles of organic food production, and  certification offers assurance that when you see the organic symbol, this meat has been produced to a standard you can trust.  Animal welfare requirements are part of every organic standard and often even go beyond the EU organic regulation’s requirements. Organic farmers focus on ethical responsibility, long-term productivity and high product quality. Good animal health and welfare of all farm animals are central to their activities.

The Organic And 'free Range' Myths

Animals should be kept so they can live their life according to their natural needs and behaviour. The animals’ well-being is the basis for good animal health and good farm economics. The general principles are:

A legislative proposal from the European Commission to revise the EU legislation on animal welfare is expected during the third quarter of 2023. The new proposal will include updated animal welfare standards to better fit with animal species’ specific needs and husbandry conditions. The European Commission is also looking into the creation of an EU voluntary animal welfare labelling.

In 2021, the Commission launched a Roadmap and a public consultation aiming at checking the fitness of the current rules on animal welfare standards at farm level, during the transport and time of killing in order to revise the legislation. You can find our feedback to the Roadmap on the European Commission’s website.

How Do Organic Farmers Avoid Antibiotics?

The European Parliament’s adopted in January 2022 recommendations on animal conditions during transport: MEPs recommend to increase Member States’ controls to check whether transporters comply with the EU animal welfare standards, when transporting, loading and deloading animals. They recommend keeping a temperature between 5 and 30 degrees celsius during travel duration, transporting carcasses and meat rather than live animals, and to establish a maximum transportation time of 8 hours for animals transported by road and to ban the transport of calves below the age of four weeks.

These recommendations are based on the Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry into the protection of animals during transport (ANIT Committee)’s report which highlights that Member States do not always comply with EU rules and these rules ‘do not take account the different transport needs of animals.

Evaluation of EU animal welfare strategy (2012-2015): The 2012-2015 EU Strategy for Protection and Welfare of Animals aims to improve animal welfare standards and ensure their application and enforcement. In 2018, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) recommended an evaluation of this strategy. Therefore, the European Commission launched a Roadmap in 2019 and a consultation in 2020 to assess how the strategy delivered on its objectives and if they are still relevant and consistent with current needs, as well as to evaluate the strategy’s efficiency and complementarity with national efforts in this field. The Commission’s evaluation report has been released in March 2021. Based on this evaluation’s outcomes, we expect a Commission’s proposal on the revision of the animal welfare rules for the end of 2023 (as mentioned above).

Incredible Benefits Of Organic Farming

EU Regulation 2018/848 on organic production and labelling of organic products: Covers organic production rules for livestock and animal welfare (implemented as of 1 January 2022 and replacing the EU Regulation 834/2007).

EU Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2304: Sets rules on the issuance of complementary certificates certifying the non-use of antibiotics in organic production of animal products for the purpose of export. 

EU Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/464 on the documents needed for the retroactive recognition of periods for the purpose of conversion, the production of organic products and information to be provided by Member States: indicates the stocking densities per animal species, as well as the minimum surface for in-door and out-door spaces.

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Animal welfare Strategy 2012-2015: Identifies main common drivers affecting the welfare status of animals, for example lack of enforcement of EU legislation by the Member States, and proposes strategic actions based on two complementary approaches: simplification of EU legislative framework and various further actions by the Commission.

Council Regulation 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing: Lays down rules for killing animals bred or kept for the production of food, wool, skin, fur or other products.

Council Regulation 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations: Regulates the transport of live animals between EU countries and provides for checks on animals entering or leaving the EU. The rules aim to prevent injury or unnecessary suffering to the animals.

Investigation Into Largest U.s. Organic Dairy Farm Shows Cows Kicked, Stabbed, And Abused

The work of IFOAM Organics Europe on this topic is co-financed by the LIFE programme of the European Union, under the Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). This page only reflects the views of the authors, and its sole responsibility lies with IFOAM Organics Europe. The CINEA is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information provided.

The ‘Replacement of Contentious Inputs in Organic Farming Systems’ (RELACS) look ed into safe tools and technologies to phase out inputs considered contentious in organic farming. Two of the project work packages look into providing solutions to support livestock health and welfare. Namely by searching for alternatives to anthelmintics and antibiotics use . Policy briefings and technical resources are available here .  

Replacement of Contentious Inputs in Organic Farming Systems’ (RELACS) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 773431. The information contained in this communication only reflects the author’s view.

Humane” Meat, Dairy, And Eggs: How To Decipher Animal Welfare Claims On Food Labels

The project helped farmers, breeders and the organic feed processing industry achieve 100% use of organic and regional feed for monogastrics (pigs, broilers, laying hens and parents of broilers and laying hens) (2018-2021) . Resources are available here .   

OK-Net Ecofeed received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 773911. The information contained in this communication only reflects the author’s view.

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Making Better Food Choices

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