Insect farming for protein production is growing rapidly. As production scales to billions of individuals, welfare considerations become increasingly important regardless of uncertainty about insect sentience.
The rapid scaling of insect protein production raises welfare questions that are novel and difficult: do insects have welfare-relevant experiences, and if so, what do they require? Current scientific evidence suggests that insects have limited capacity for suffering compared to vertebrates, but significant uncertainty remains. Given the enormous scale of insect farming — billions of individuals per production facility — even small probabilities of negative experience could translate to significant aggregate harm. Welfare researchers advocate for a precautionary approach: optimising conditions based on what is known about insect biology, minimising handling stress, ensuring rapid slaughter methods, and investing in welfare research. Insect welfare is an emerging field that will be shaped by scientific progress.