Abstract
AbstractAgriculture in Western Europe has become efficient and productive but at a cost. The quality of biodiversity, soil, air, and water has been compromised. In the search for ways to ensure food security and meet the challenges of climate change, new production systems have been proposed. One of these is the transition to circular agriculture: closing the cycles of nutrients and other resources to minimise losses and end the impact on climate change. This development aims to address existing problems in food production but also raises questions about animal health and welfare. Although the role animals can play in this development is not ignored, the animal welfare dimension of circular agriculture seems to be overlooked. We argue that this is a problem both for the success of circular agriculture and for the animals involved. To substantiate this claim, we analyse the background to this lack of attention, which we find in (a) the way circular agriculture is conceptualised; (b) the institutional hurdles related to the legal, political and economic context; and (c) the concept of animal welfare, which requires further innovation. By analysing these aspects, we develop stepping stones for an animal-welfare inclusive concept of circular agriculture. These stepping stones include: recognising the animal as a participant with its own interests in the innovation towards circular agriculture; using a dynamic concept of animal welfare; a concept of circularity that provides space for social values, including animal welfare; and attention to institutional innovation by improving public engagement and building trust.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
General Environmental Science,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous),History,Environmental Chemistry
Reference79 articles.
1. Arndt, S. S., Goerlich, V. C., & van der Staay, F. J. (2022). A dynamic concept of animal welfare: The role of appetitive and adverse internal and external factors and the animal’s ability to adapt to them. Front Anim Sci, 3, 908513. https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2022.908513.
2. Benton, T., & Bailey, R. (2019). The paradox of productivity: Agricultural productivity promotes food system inefficiency. Global Sustainability, 2, E6. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2019.3.
3. Bergmann, I. M. (2019). Interspecies sustainability to ensure animal protection: Lessons from the thoroughbred racing industry. Sustainability, 11(19), 5539.
4. Berkum, S. (2019). Transition to sustainable food systems: The dutch circular approach providing solutions to global challenges. Wageningen. Report 2019-082DengerinkJ.
5. Bianchi, F., van Beek, C., de Winter, D., & Lammers, E. (2020). Opportunities and barriers of circular agriculture. Den Haag: NWO-WOTRO Science for Global Development.
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献