Vermiculture and worm farming raises emerging welfare questions as invertebrate sentience research advances.
While the welfare status of earthworms remains scientifically uncertain, their demonstrated nociceptive responses and avoidance learning suggest they may have welfare-relevant experiences. Commercial vermiculture involves extremely high densities with little consideration of worm welfare needs. The application of precautionary welfare principles to farming operations that contain enormous numbers of potentially sentient individuals deserves consideration.