Insect farming is growing rapidly as a sustainable protein source, and the scale of production means that even small improvements in welfare per insect could have enormous aggregate impact.
Insect farming welfare operates under deep scientific uncertainty about whether and to what degree insects experience suffering. Despite this uncertainty, the precautionary principle combined with the enormous scale of production makes welfare consideration worthwhile. If insects have even a small probability of experiencing pain, the billions raised under sub-optimal conditions represent a potentially massive welfare concern. Welfare research on insects is rapidly developing, and the insect farming industry is engaging proactively with these questions in ways that conventional livestock industries historically did not. Early establishment of welfare standards positions the industry for improved practices as scientific understanding develops.