As insect farming scales globally, advanced welfare science is needed to address key unknowns about sentience, pain, and optimal rearing conditions.
Insect farming welfare occupies a scientifically uncertain but morally significant space. Given the scale of farming, if insects have even modest capacity for suffering, the aggregate welfare impact could be enormous. Best practice recommendations focus on optimal density management, species-appropriate substrate and climate control, and rapid killing methods that minimise potential suffering. The UK and Switzerland have recognised insect sentience uncertainty in law, but most regulatory frameworks ignore the question entirely. Advancing insect welfare science requires investment in behavioural, neurobiological, and genomic research to better characterise sentience thresholds across commercially relevant species.