The farming of insects for food and feed is growing rapidly. Whether and how insects experience pain or distress is a genuinely open scientific question with significant ethical implications.
Insect welfare sits at the edge of current scientific understanding. The question of whether insects experience something like pain or distress remains genuinely contested, with evidence of nociception but more uncertainty about subjective experience. However, given the enormous numbers involved — trillions of insects are farmed annually — even a small probability of sentience creates a significant expected welfare burden if conditions are poor. Responsible insect farming should apply a precautionary welfare approach: minimising crowding stress, avoiding harmful harvesting methods where alternatives exist, and investing in research that could clarify the sentience question. The Insect Welfare Research Society and similar bodies are working to establish evidence-based welfare standards for this rapidly growing sector.