Assessing Production and Economic Impacts of Good Practices for Improving Animal Welfare in Broiler Chicken Rearing

Improving animal welfare is an important objective of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy, as well as national regulations and voluntary certification schemes. Drawing on research conducted within the BroilerNet project, this paper presents an assessment of the production and economic effects of good practices in broiler farming identified in 13 participating EU countries. The methodology involved defining key challenges related to animal welfare, health, and environmental impacts; identifying practices already applied under commercial conditions; conducting preliminary assessments by national expert panels; and selecting the most promising practices, referred to as Champions, for final economic evaluation. The assessment used gross margin analysis and budgeting techniques considering additional implementation costs and potential production benefits. Typical farm models representing different flock sizes were developed. The analysis of six Champions presented in the paper revealed varied outcomes depending on implementation costs, expected production benefits, and the assumptions adopted under optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. According to farmers’ observations, supported by the available literature, all assessed practices improved animal welfare. Financial benefits varied with implementation costs, achievable productivity gains, and production scale, with the smallest farms benefiting less. Given the generally low implementation costs, all assessed practices merit wider dissemination.