Welfare assessment has traditionally focused on the absence of negative states — disease, injury, hunger — but positive welfare science asks what animals need to experience good lives, not just avoid suffering.
The shift from welfare as absence of suffering to welfare as presence of positive states represents a maturation of animal welfare science with significant practical implications. An animal can be free from disease, injury, and hunger while still experiencing a profoundly impoverished life — one in which nothing positive happens, no natural behaviours are expressed, and no social bonds are formed. Positive welfare science asks what farmed animals need to flourish rather than merely survive, and translates this into indicators that can be measured on-farm. The incorporation of positive welfare indicators into certification schemes means that auditors look for evidence of good lives, not just the absence of identifiable harms.