Abstract

Decisions made by livestock producers inevitably determine the extent of actual farm animal welfare (FAW) provision in livestock production. This article identify key issues in the identification and empirical measurement of farmer's preferences for FAW-related, non-use values to encourage theoretically-sound future research to address relevant potential producer trade-off such as those between use and non-use values with consequences for the total amount of FAW provisions to be delivered to society. Producer preferences for specific non-use values, as well as their overall strength of preferences for non-use values relative to use values will determine their provision of FAW. Investment and/or adjustment costs, however, may prevent producers from changing their production system to their preferred choice and economic welfare measures will be biased whenever such costs are neglected.

Keywords

Farm animal welfare; use values; non-use values; farmers; decision-making

Published in

Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy
2011, volume: 33, number: 4, pages: 484-509

Authors' information