Agriculture and pet welfare

Definitions

Natural, organic and sustainable are some of the current marketing buzz words that are used in describing products. However, as with most words that fall into general use, the actual definitions become blurred.

The Soil Association (UK’s largest organic certification body) defines organic food as food that is produced using environmentally and animal friendly farming methods on organic farms. These methods are legally defined and any food sold as ‘organic’ is strictly regulated. Definitions of ‘organic’ have been harmonised between the EU and USA.

There is no legal definition for ‘natural’ food. A suitable working definition is that natural foods are often assumed to be foods that are minimally processed or do not contain any food additives, or do not contain particular additives such as hormones, antibiotics, sweeteners, food colours, or flavourings that were not originally in the food.

There is an abundance of definitions for sustainability. Often, ecological, economic and social sustainability are mentioned in the same definition. In the case of food it can be considered that the focus is on the relationship to the life-supporting ecological and biological functions on the planet. For example, an agro-ecological system aiming at neither depleting non-renewable resources nor seriously impairing the life-supporting functions or resilience of the ecosystem of which it is a part. This definition has negated the inclusion of economic and social sustainability.

Pet welfare

In the UK, there is an Animal Welfare Act that places a duty of care on people to ensure they take reasonable steps in all the circumstances to meet the welfare needs of their pets. In practice, enforcement agencies act by advising and educating owners before their pets suffer. If this advice is not followed, prosecution can result.

Therefore, those that are responsible for animals must take positive steps to provide for the following pet welfare needs:

• need for a suitable environment;
• need for a suitable diet;
• need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns;
• need to be housed with, or apart, from other animals;
• need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.

Although the above is for the UK it is an appropriate philosophy for pet welfare.

Agricultural developments

Agriculture, organic food production and sustainability have been the focus of several conferences, as was it this April at an event in Brussels: “Connected agriculture – from farm to retail promoted methods for the reduction of chemicals, water and fossil fuels in agriculture”.

Speaking prior to this event, Jeremy Rifkin, an American social theorist who advises the European Commission and Parliament on the big policy issues of the day, claimed agriculture is “probably one of the most inefficient parts of our economic value chain today”. He added that global warming was expected to modify the water cycles of the earth, wreaking havoc for farmers and driving up food prices. The future aim must be to move from chemical farming and into organic and ecological farming.

For the future, it was forecast more use would be made of hi-tech sensors to monitor farm production, which would include a move towards automation of transport and logistics, with the aim of bringing farming products closer to the consumer and allow quicker and more precise management of stocks at warehouses and retail stores. To reduce the use of fossil fuels, further implementation of micro-scale solar and wind energy systems should be expected. On the consumer side there will be a move towards healthier diets based on fresh organic produce and less reliant on meat.

Implications for pet food

The implications of this change for pet food can be profound. There will be a more frequent change of ingredients in formulations as more ‘local’ produce will be used in order to reduce transport and these ingredients will not be available all year round. These ‘local’ ingredients will be subject to greater analytical variability as they are influenced by the ‘local’ growing conditions.

As an example: there has recently been a question on the suitability of organic milk compared to non-organic milk as it does not contain enough iodine required for pregnancy. Texture and colour of final product will also be a challenge because of ingredient variability.

We are in for changes in agriculture and hence pet food manufacture, but by keeping abreast of expected changes products will continue to be organic or natural and they will come from sustainable practices and will fulfil pet welfare.