Insect farming is growing rapidly as a sustainable protein source, raising urgent welfare questions at scale.
Insect farming is often promoted as more sustainable and humane than conventional livestock farming. The sustainability argument is strong — insects have far lower land, water, and greenhouse gas footprints per unit of protein. The welfare argument is less settled — whether insects experience suffering is scientifically uncertain. The precautionary case for developing welfare guidelines before insect farming scales to its projected size is strong: developing welfare norms is far harder after an industry is entrenched.