As insect farming scales to meet growing demand for sustainable protein, welfare research is urgently needed to understand insect sentience, identify indicators of poor welfare, and develop humane production standards.
Insect farming welfare represents one of the most important emerging questions in animal welfare science. The combination of enormous production scale, genuine scientific uncertainty about sentience, and a rapidly growing industry without welfare standards creates a situation where significant harm could be occurring unrecognized. The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness noted that insects and other invertebrates cannot be excluded from sentience on neurological grounds. The precautionary principle applied to this uncertainty argues for urgent research investment into insect sentience indicators and development of provisional welfare standards that can be refined as science advances.