Revamping Broiler Rearing: The One Welfare Approach

The One Welfare concept challenges the traditional separation of human well-being, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare by emphasising their interdependence. However, its practical use as an evaluation framework remains limited, which prompted a study to develop and test an operational One Welfare approach for extensive broiler rearing systems.

Extensive broiler rearing systems constitute only about 5% of EU broiler output. Yet, interest and adoption of these systems have seen significant growth over the last two decades, highlighting the crucial need for comprehensive assessment tools that can capture their broader contributions.

The Need for Comprehensive Assessment

Conventional evaluation methodologies, which are primarily designed for intensive systems, often prioritize yield, short-term efficiency, and market indicators. This can result in a considerable underrepresentation of the ecological, social, and welfare benefits associated with diversified, outdoor systems.

Implementing the One Welfare Approach

Scientists have implemented a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) using the One Welfare Approach to synthesise indicators across the pillars of animal welfare, environmental sustainability, economic viability, and social responsibility in a broiler case study.

The framework has proven to be feasible despite facing data constraints—such as limited availability and common invariant parameters typical for extensive broiler rearing systems. Its outputs have also aligned with published evidence on the viability of slow-growing genotypes in outdoor systems, supporting its construct validity.

Key Findings

These findings suggest that the One Welfare assessment is capable of capturing trade-offs and synergies that are often overlooked by conventional metrics, providing practical guidance for extensive organic broiler systems. Furthermore, this approach aligns well with existing outcome-based welfare assessment practices.

A Simplified Framework

The One Welfare framework can be distilled into a straightforward index for on-farm self-assessment and external communication, contingent on its governance and the robustness of its evidence base meeting current best practice standards.

The study was led by researchers from the University of Perugia, Italy. The comprehensive report can be found here.