Insect Farming Welfare: Emerging Standards for a Growing Industry

Insect farming is growing rapidly as a sustainable protein source, raising novel welfare questions about whether and how billions of farmed insects experience suffering that requires ethical consideration.

Key Facts

Global insect production for food and feed exceeded 1 million metric tons in 2025, with production growing rapidly in response to demand for sustainable protein
Evidence for pain experience in insects is genuinely uncertain — nociception is present but the capacity for conscious suffering remains scientifically contested
The precautionary principle suggests that where suffering is possible but uncertain, reducing potential suffering costs little relative to the risk of ignoring it
Thermal killing methods — cold stunning followed by freezing — appear more humane than some alternative methods based on nociception evidence
Crowding, humidity, temperature, and substrate quality are the primary husbandry variables affecting insect welfare outcomes in commercial facilities

Welfare Considerations

Insect farming welfare occupies a unique position in the animal welfare landscape — the scale of animals involved is enormous, the evidence for sentience is genuinely uncertain, and the sustainability case for insect protein is strong. This uncertainty does not justify ignoring welfare: if there is meaningful probability that farmed insects experience suffering, then the billions of individuals involved make even small welfare improvements enormously consequential. Developing evidence-based welfare standards for insect farming, rather than waiting for certainty, is the most responsible approach.

What You Can Do

Support research into insect sentience and welfare to reduce uncertainty informing production standards
Choose insect products from producers who demonstrate consideration of welfare in production design
Advocate for insect welfare to be included in national animal welfare legislative frameworks under precautionary principles
Support organizations developing evidence-based insect husbandry standards for the growing insect protein industry