Improving animal health on organic dairy farms: Stakeholder views on policy options

Although ensuring good animal health is a stated aim of organic livestock farming and an important reason why consumers purchase organic products, the health states actually achieved are comparable to those in conventional farming. Unfortunately, there have been no studies to date that have assessed...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Krieger, Margret, Jones, Philip J., Blanco-Penedo, Isabel, Duval, Julie E., Emanuelson, Ulf, Hoischen-Taubner, Susanne, Sjöström, Karin, Sundrum, Albert
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:20.500.12327/757
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12327/757
https://doi.org/10.3390/su12073001
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:636
Descripción
Sumario:Although ensuring good animal health is a stated aim of organic livestock farming and an important reason why consumers purchase organic products, the health states actually achieved are comparable to those in conventional farming. Unfortunately, there have been no studies to date that have assessed stakeholder views on different policy options for improving animal health on organic dairy farms. To address this deficit, stakeholder consultations were conducted in four European countries, involving 39 supply-chain stakeholders (farmers, advisors, veterinarians, inspectors, processors, and retailers). Stakeholders were encouraged to discuss different ways, including policy change,ofimprovingorganichealthstates. Acknowledgingtheneedforfurtherhealthimprovements in organic dairy herds, stakeholders generally favoured establishing outcome-oriented animal health requirements as a way of achieving this. However, as a result of differing priorities for animal health improvement, there was disagreement on questions such as: who should be responsible for assessing animal health status on organic farms; and how to define and implement minimum health requirements. The results of the study suggest that future research must fully explore the opportunities and risks of different policy options and also suggest ways to overcome the divergence of stakeholders’ interests in public debates.