Insect farming is growing rapidly as a sustainable protein source, raising novel welfare questions about whether and how farmed insects can suffer at the billions-per-day scale.
Insect welfare is one of the most uncertain and potentially significant welfare questions in food systems. If insects are capable of suffering — evidence is contested but not negligible — the scale of insect farming and wild insect mortality represents a vast welfare consideration. Welfare-conscious insect farming requires applying precautionary principles: minimizing pain during killing, avoiding starvation or crowding stress, and investing in welfare research to guide practice as the industry scales.