By Babatope Akinyemi and Janice Siegford
Precision livestock farming, or PLF, gives farmers a closer look at every pig. Cameras and sensors can flag a pig that is sick, hurt or stressed long before a person might notice. Early action can mean healthier, calmer pigs.
But buying and running these tools is not cheap. If farmers invest in PLF to improve pig welfare, will shoppers help cover the cost? And does it matter how much the pigs' lives improve? To find out, we asked 4,004 U.S. pork shoppers to make a series of buying choices.
How the study worked
Each shopper picked between two packages of fresh pork loin or chose to buy neither. Each package carried labels with one to three stars. The stars showed how much PLF had improved three areas of pig welfare:
- Physical health: good food, a clean pen, daily care and quick vet treatment
- Mental health: less fear, stress and suffering, and more positive feelings
- Natural behavior: space and chances to explore, root, play and rest
Each area could show no improvement, or a low, moderate, or great improvement. The packages also differed in price, U.S. origin, and a carbon-neutral label. From the choices people made, we estimated how many extra dollars per pound they would pay for each improvement.
Source : msu.edu