The rapid growth of insect farming for food and animal feed raises important welfare questions about the capacity of insects to suffer, the conditions under which billions of insects are farmed, and how to apply precautionary welfare principles at an unprecedented scale.
The welfare status of farmed insects is genuinely uncertain, and this uncertainty is itself morally significant. We farm insects at a scale orders of magnitude larger than any vertebrate species, and if they have any capacity for negative experience, the potential scale of suffering involved is vast. The precautionary principle — taking welfare seriously in proportion to the probability of sentience and the scale of potential impact — argues for minimizing unnecessary suffering in insect farming even without certainty about their inner lives. Some welfare improvements are low-cost and prudent regardless: avoiding extreme overcrowding, using rapid slaughter methods, ensuring appropriate nutrition, and continuing to fund research into insect sentience and welfare needs.