Insect farming for food and feed is growing rapidly. The welfare implications are profound — insects may be sentient, and the scale of production dwarfs all other farmed animal sectors.
Insect welfare is the most significant open question in contemporary animal welfare science. The scale of insect farming — orders of magnitude larger than all other farmed animal sectors combined — means that even a small probability of sentience creates an enormous potential welfare concern. Current evidence is insufficient to resolve the sentience question, but the precautionary principle supports taking welfare considerations seriously as the science develops. This does not necessarily mean opposing insect farming — insect protein has significant environmental advantages over vertebrate alternatives. But it does mean investing in research into insect welfare and developing husbandry standards that minimise potential suffering under uncertainty.