Economics of Farm Animal Welfare, The (eBook)

Bouda Vosough Ahmadi (Edited By) Dr Bouda Vosough Ahmadi is veterinarian and animal-health and welfare economist currently working at the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. His main research focus is on agricultural policies and economics and policies of animal-health and animal welfare. He currently leads socioeconomic impact assessment studies of livestock diseases at EuFMD/FAO.Dominic Moran (Edited By) Professor Dominic Moran is Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Edinburgh. Previously he worked for a period of 18 years at Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), prior to which he was a government economist and in private consulting. His research focuses on applying economics to environmental management and the development of interdisciplinary approaches to resource allocation problems in agriculture and global food security. Most recently, his work has focused on the challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and food supply chains, and the problem of antimicrobial use and resistance in agriculture. Dominic has worked in over 30 countries and has published more than 100 refereed journal papers. He has been in continuous receipt of funding from the EU, ESRC, NERC or BBSRC since 2000 for his research on climate change and agriculture, and has supervised 20 PhD students.Rick D'Eath (Edited By) Dr Rick D'Eath is Reader in Animal Behaviour and Welfare at Scotland's Rural College (SRUC). As an applied ethologist working on farm animals, his main research interests involve understanding how the farmed environment can modify and sometimes frustrate an animals' motivated behaviours often leading to animal welfare problems. Rick primarily works on pigs and poultry, with a particular focus on questions around feeding and hunger, and interactions between animals which are negative for their welfare, including aggression, tail-biting and mounting.

Overall, this is - and will be for years to come - the go-to source for all things related to animal welfare economics. The index at the back is most helpful when trying to find details of specific subjects, and the value of having all the relevant information handy in one place makes this book an easier, more manageable mine of information than any online search.

[This book] considers important questions at the intersection of economics and welfare, from a European and a farm animal perspective. The 9 chapters of this book provide a thorough overview of the history and current state of economics, welfare science, and European welfare policy. For veterinarians with little training in economics, multiple chapters cover basic economics in a succinct and lucid way. Case studies, such as the economics of switching from sow-farrowing crates to crate-free systems, will be informative for both veterinarians and producers.