Farmed Insect Welfare with Meghan Barrett

Over 1.2 trillion insects are reared as food and feed each year, more than 20x the number of farmed terrestrial vertebrates. Despite the number of livestock animals being reared, no legislation or best practice documentation exists to guide the industry in promoting species-specific welfare. This course will cover 1) the current and predicted scale of the farmed insect industry; 2) the state of the evidence on insect pain and sentience; 3) the species of insects currently farmed; and 4) case studies of species-specific farmed insect welfare concerns. The presentation will end with Q & A before a short group activity on the intersection of veterinary medicine and farmed insect welfare.