Assessing the sustainability of organic egg production

Abstract

Organic food production has increased in popularity in the last few decades, although it still remains a small portion of global food production. As questions arise about the sustainability of conventional egg production systems with regard to environmental protection and animal welfare, there has been a push to move away for the caged-rearing systems used in conventional egg production. The question arises: Do organic production systems increase the welfare of the birds and, at the same time, reduce environmental impact. Comparisons of the two broad definitions of egg production systems show that neither system is ideal. Any poultry production system has scope for improvement and thus has the potential to reduce its environmental impact and improve animal welfare.