The emerging insect farming industry requires welfare standards given growing evidence of insect sentience and the enormous scale of production.
The scale of insect farming means that even small per-animal welfare improvements have enormous aggregate impact. Evidence of pain-avoidance behavior and basic nociception in farmed insect species creates welfare obligations that the industry is only beginning to address. Thermal killing, appropriate temperature, and density management are currently the most welfare-relevant husbandry decisions.