A systematic comparison of pig welfare across outdoor, enriched indoor, and conventional indoor systems reveals consistent patterns - and helps consumers and policymakers make evidence-based welfare choices.
The evidence consistently shows a welfare hierarchy in pig production systems: outdoor systems with adequate management typically provide the best welfare; enriched indoor systems with straw can match some outdoor outcomes; conventional slatted indoor systems provide the worst welfare across most indicators. This hierarchy is well-established in the scientific literature and forms the basis for welfare certification standards. The barrier to better welfare is primarily economic - conventional systems have lower production costs, and market prices for welfare-certified pork often do not fully reflect the production cost premium. Policy intervention that internalises welfare costs into production systems would accelerate the welfare improvement that market signals alone cannot deliver.