Emerging technologies promise to transform pig welfare monitoring and management over the coming decade, though realising their welfare potential requires deliberate design and implementation choices.
Technology creates possibilities for welfare improvement but does not automatically deliver them. AI welfare monitoring implemented purely to reduce labour costs without linking alerts to rapid human response fails welfare. Environmental sensors unconnected to ventilation management provide data without action. Realising the welfare potential of precision livestock technology requires deliberate design choices that prioritise welfare outcomes alongside production efficiency.