Insect farming is growing rapidly as a sustainable protein source, raising novel welfare questions about sentience, suffering capacity, and the appropriate standards for trillions of individual animals.
Insect welfare sits at the frontier of moral consideration — the probability of sentience is lower than for vertebrates, but the scale of insect farming means even small probabilities of suffering aggregate to enormous moral concern. The precautionary principle suggests applying welfare standards proportional to the probability of sentience — ensuring optimal temperature, humidity, and density conditions, and using killing methods that minimise the risk of distress. Research investment in insect sentience science is urgently needed to inform proportionate welfare standards for this rapidly growing sector.