Insights from the aWISH Project: Understanding animal welfare across the livestock value chain.

White Research presents key findings from aWISH Deliverable D5.2, exploring stakeholder perspectives, consumer attitudes, and the main drivers and barriers to improving animal welfare in livestock production across Europe.
Improving animal welfare in livestock production requires a clear understanding of the perspectives, motivations, and constraints faced by actors across the entire value chain. Within the aWISH project, White Research has led the development of Deliverable D5.2: Value Chain Actors’ Needs, Perceptions, and Constraints Analysis, a comprehensive study exploring these issues across Europe.

To capture a holistic view of the sector, the research combined 50 in-depth interviews with stakeholders from across the farm-to-fork value chain, including farmers, regulators, veterinarians, industry representatives, and policymakers, with a large EU-wide consumer survey involving more than 5,000 respondents.

What drives animal welfare improvements?

The research reveals that consumer demand is a powerful driver of change. A significant share of consumers expressed willingness to pay a premium for meat products that guarantee higher animal welfare standards, highlighting strong market potential for welfare-friendly production systems.

In addition, stakeholders identified several important factors that can accelerate the adoption of welfare-friendly practices, including:

• Greater public awareness and consumer education
• Financial incentives and certification schemes
• Corporate social responsibility initiatives
• Supportive regulatory frameworks

Together, these drivers can create an enabling environment that encourages producers and value chain actors to invest in higher welfare standards.

Barriers that still need to be addressed

At the same time, the research highlights several key challenges that continue to slow the adoption of welfare-friendly practices across the sector.

Stakeholders frequently pointed to:

• Economic constraints and additional costs for producers
• Limited infrastructure and resources
• Lack of training and awareness
• Inconsistent standards and regulatory frameworks across regions

These findings demonstrate that improving animal welfare is not only a technical issue, but also a social, economic, and governance challenge requiring coordinated action across the entire value chain.

Evidence to support policy and innovation

By combining stakeholder perspectives with large-scale consumer insights, the work led by White Research provides valuable evidence to support policy development, industry strategies, and future innovations in animal welfare monitoring and management.

The results contribute to the broader objectives of the aWISH project, which aims to develop cost-efficient solutions to assess and improve animal welfare in large-scale livestock production systems across Europe.

Through this research, White Research is helping to bridge the gap between consumer expectations, stakeholder realities, and policy ambitions, contributing to more transparent, sustainable, and welfare-oriented livestock systems.

Find the full report here.