Pesticide use in crop farming kills enormous numbers of invertebrates and other field animals. Transitioning to reduced-pesticide and organic farming methods protects these animals while improving soil and ecosystem health.
Pesticide reduction in crop farming directly improves welfare for billions of invertebrates and indirectly for the vertebrates that depend on them. While the welfare status of invertebrates is uncertain, the precautionary principle suggests that reducing the scale of their death and harm is welfare-positive. The vertebrate consequences of pesticide reduction — more insects means more food for birds, bats, and amphibians — are clearer and directly improve welfare of species whose sentience is not in doubt. Agricultural policy that incentivises pesticide reduction through agri-environment schemes provides a structural driver for the farming system changes needed to protect field animal welfare at landscape scale.