Farm animal welfare and trade

One of the main reasons that factory farming has increased is because of competition between producers and retailers. This is magnified by international trade and competition between countries. The World Trade Organisation (WTO), which has 150 member countries, agrees rules against practices that limit trade or give advantages to some countries over others – such as a country placing restrictions on how many goods they import. In 2006, the WTO negotiated a new Agreement on Agriculture to liberalise trade in agricultural products.

This increasing trade has mainly resulted in the growth of intensive farming as opposed to more humane organic and welfare markets in developing countries. However, this kind of farming could be encouraged, as these countries have extensive land and relatively cheap labour, advantageous for good animal husbandry. They could use these advantages to target high-value organic and welfare markets in developed countries, especially in Europe. Countries in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere could sell into these niche markets with little change to their agriculture, because many aspects of their treatment of animals – such as giving them plenty of space – are those that people in developing countries say they prefer. WTO rules do allow promotion of such opportunities as “trade related assistance and capacity building,” and some such work has begun on a relatively small scale.

Trade also threatens the progress that has been made for farm animal welfare in Europe and other developed countries, because producers must compete with imports from other countries, where welfare standards are often lower. For example, Europe is phasing out barren battery cages for laying hens, thereby increasing production costs, but imports of eggs and dried or liquid egg products come from battery cages elsewhere. Under WTO rules, Europe will not generally be able to subsidise its farmers to protect them from competition. It may be able to help them with the portion of their costs that relate to improved welfare, but this is uncertain and reduces confidence that improving welfare is viable. However, it is encouraging that the European Union has not yet shown any signs of relaxing or reversing its protection of farm animal welfare in the face of likely increases in trade.

One aspect of the Agreement on Agriculture is likely to benefit animals. It has been agreed to phase out all export subsidies for agricultural products by 2013; this will have at least some positive effects for animal welfare, as such subsidies cause many welfare problems. Large numbers of live animals are transported unnecessarily between countries. For example, exports of live farm animals by the USA in 2004 were worth about $450 million, and imports about $1.4 billion (US Department of Agriculture figures).