The rapid growth of insect farming as a protein source raises urgent welfare questions given the billions of animals involved, even amid uncertainty about insect sentience.
Insect farming represents one of the most significant welfare challenges of the coming decades precisely because of its scale. If insects have any capacity for negative experience - even a fraction of what is experienced by vertebrates - the welfare implications of farming trillions annually are enormous. The scientific evidence for insect sentience is genuinely uncertain: insects have nociceptors and show protective behaviors, but whether these involve subjective suffering remains debated. This uncertainty, combined with the astronomical numbers involved, means that even a small probability of significant welfare concern translates to massive expected welfare impact. Current insect farming practices have developed almost entirely without welfare consideration, creating a precautionary argument for developing welfare guidelines now rather than after the industry matures.