Farmland bird populations have declined catastrophically across Europe and North America since intensive agriculture expanded — representing a massive wild animal welfare crisis.
Farmland bird population declines represent both a conservation and welfare crisis — millions of individual birds die from starvation, reproductive failure, and habitat loss directly attributable to agricultural intensification. Young birds that cannot find adequate invertebrate food starve. Breeding attempts fail from lack of suitable nesting habitat. The welfare of hundreds of millions of individual birds is directly determined by agricultural land management practices.