Open sharing of farm animal welfare data across sectors would accelerate welfare improvement by enabling pattern recognition, benchmarking, and evidence-based policy.
The potential of open welfare data to accelerate improvements is significant but largely unrealised. Anonymised welfare outcome data shared across producers, vets, researchers, and policy makers would enable pattern recognition that identifies the management practices, genetic lines, and environmental conditions most associated with good welfare. The current fragmentation of welfare data into proprietary assurance scheme databases limits learning that could benefit millions of animals.