What is the EFN approach?

Overcoming blocks to progress

There are several major reasons why progress in animal welfare does not easily happen on the farm:

1. Fear of financial and production failure – farmers are in a high investment, low margin business and understandably fear non-validated systems.
2. Lack of incentive for farmers – poor returns from the marketplace inhibit investment in new systems, meaning for any new system to be adopted it must be shown to be commercially viable.
3. Poor recognition of what good animal welfare means – sometimes farmers, food companies, vets, retailers and consumers do not recognise the benefits of improvements to animal welfare ,and a transfer of information is needed.
4. Lack of viable, scalable systems – many systems which have good animal welfare credentials are not currently considered scalable as this would often require fundamental changes to existing systems.

The EFN approach is to find those farmers who have overcome these hurdles and achieve higher animal welfare in a sustainable food production system.