Attitudes of organic pig farmers towards animal welfare

This paper presents partial results of the Welfare Quality research project, which aims to identify motivations and barriers for farmers to the development of animal friendly production. Using semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 13 Dutch organic pig farmers, we studied their attitudes towards animal welfare and animal welfare regulations. As described in literature, different types of organic farmers can be identified, based on their motivation to become an organic farmer. Within the sample five 'pragmatically motivated farmers' and eight 'ideological motivated farmers' could be identified. 'Pragmatic' and 'ideological' farmers differ in their definition and appreciation of animal welfare, and in their view on animal welfare regulations. Whereas the 'ideological' farmers mainly regard animal welfare to be important due to intrinsic motivations and define animal welfare by referring to the ability for the animal to perform natural behaviour, 'pragmatic' farmers tend to involve economic conditions and zoo-technical performance in their description and valuation of animal welfare. 'Pragmatic' farmers define animal welfare mainly as the absence of negative factors. In this 'pragmatic' organic pig farmers resemble conventional pig farmers. This means that being an organic pig farmer is an insufficient indicator for farmer's ethics regarding animal welfare. We need to look closer into farmers' main motivation to become an organic farmer. Why farmers converse to organic farming, matters for their attitude towards animal welfare, and thus organic farmers cannot be perceived as a homogeneous group, sharing the same beliefs and ethical standards.