Economic analysis of welfare improvements reveals that costs to producers are frequently lower than assumed and benefits — to animals, public health, and consumer trust — are often substantial.
The economic case against welfare improvement is often overstated. Standard economic analyses focus on direct production costs while ignoring welfare-related productivity gains — better immune function, lower mortality, reduced veterinary costs. They also omit externalities borne by society: antibiotic resistance costs, water pollution remediation, public health impacts, and climate emissions. A full-cost accounting of welfare improvements typically shows a much smaller gap between conventional and high-welfare production than industry estimates suggest.