Agricultural practices affect vast populations of earthworms, beetles, and other invertebrates whose potential welfare has been almost entirely neglected.
If earthworms and other soil invertebrates have any capacity for welfare-relevant experience, agricultural tilling practices may represent suffering at an almost inconceivable scale. While scientific consensus on invertebrate sentience remains unsettled, the precautionary principle suggests that farming practices that minimize invertebrate harm are preferable where economically feasible. No-till farming benefits both potential invertebrate welfare and soil health.