Demonstrating the economic viability of higher welfare livestock production is essential for accelerating welfare improvement beyond the minority of operations that prioritize welfare independently of economic considerations.
Welfare economics represents an important complement to moral advocacy — producers and investors respond to economic evidence that moral arguments alone cannot provide. Building the rigorous economic case for welfare improvement, with farm-level data rather than estimates, enables engagement with stakeholders whose primary frame is commercial viability rather than animal ethics. The most compelling case for welfare improvement combines moral clarity about the intrinsic importance of animal experience with economic evidence that welfare improvement is compatible with commercial viability.