Welfare Science

Farm Animal Welfare Data Sharing and Open Science

Open data sharing in farm animal welfare research accelerates progress and enables cross-system comparisons that identify effective interventions at scale.

Key Facts

Less than 30% of farm animal welfare research data is publicly accessible after publication
Open data sharing would enable meta-analyses identifying the most effective interventions
Commercial sensitivity is cited as a barrier by industry, but this is not universally justified
FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) provide a framework for welfare data
Welfare data sharing between farms enables benchmarking and peer learning that improves practice

Welfare Considerations

Data siloing in farm animal welfare research slows the translation of science to practice. Open data policies and farm benchmarking systems accelerate welfare improvement at scale.

What You Can Do

Support open-access requirements for publicly-funded farm animal welfare research
Advocate for standardised welfare data collection and benchmarking systems across farm sectors
Engage with organisations working on welfare data infrastructure and open science