Poultry litter management affects both on-farm animal welfare through air quality and comfort, and off-farm environmental welfare through nutrient runoff that damages aquatic ecosystems and the animals that depend on them.
The welfare impacts of poor litter management extend beyond the poultry house. Eutrophication of rivers and estuaries from nutrient runoff causes hypoxic dead zones where fish and invertebrates die from oxygen depletion. Harmful algal blooms produce toxins that kill fish, shellfish, and marine mammals in affected areas. The scale of poultry production means that cumulative litter management across thousands of farms has ecosystem-level welfare consequences for aquatic animals. Consumers and policymakers who focus only on on-farm poultry welfare while ignoring the downstream environmental welfare consequences of litter management are missing a significant component of the full welfare footprint of poultry consumption.