Improving farm animal welfare in the UK.

About the Farm Animal Welfare Forum

The Farm Animal Welfare Forum (FAWF) brings together a group of influential organisations concerned with improving farm animal welfare.

The organisations involved include the University of Bristol's Animal Welfare and Behaviour Group, the British Veterinary Association, Compassion in World Farming, the Food Animal Initiative, the Royal Agricultural University, RSPCA, the Soil Association, and World Animal Protection. 

FAWF supports the field of animal welfare science that promotes and explores Positive Welfare, where good animal welfare requires the presence of positive experiences as well as the absence of negative ones. Taking the concept of animals having a ‘Good Life’ where they have positive mental experiences and opportunities to express behaviours that are important to them as our guide, we have identified the most pressing animal welfare issues and developed high-level strategies for addressing them. We believe we can do most to improve the welfare of animals by working collaboratively towards shared strategic objectives.

As our proposed improvements must be economically viable for farmers and businesses in the food supply chain, the Forum includes leading representatives from the voluntary sector, food and farming industries. We also cooperate with other organisations concerned with farm animal welfare that support our analysis and want to work with us to achieve our objectives.

The Forum is chaired by Dr Annie Rayner and administered by Jo Hastie.

Our priority species

The Farm Animal Welfare Forum believes in collective action to improve the well-being of farm animals and ensure that our food is assured to the highest quality and provenance. Our aim is to mobilise all parts of the food chain, from consumers to producers, from retailers to manufacturers and regulators, to bring about much needed reforms and to ensure transparency and higher welfare in the food chain for the benefit of all involved.

We have identified laying hens, meat chickens, pigs, dairy cows and aquaculture as the top five priorities for action, with detailed action necessary to:

  • Strengthen implementation and enforcement of legislation that effectively protects animal welfare.

  • Encourage public procurers and the food industry to source from production systems that ensure higher welfare standards.

  • Campaign for mandatory method of production labelling across the EU underpinned by robust outcome measures, to enable consumers to make informed purchasing choices.

  • Encourage the farming industry to engage with and embed policies of continuous welfare improvement.

Public payments for public goods

In 2021, FAWF prepared a series of proposals to realign public subsidies for farming and to bring about a higher welfare, higher value market where British farming will be able to secure a distinctive market position outside of the EU. 

In 2022, we wrote to Defra welcoming the subsequent announcement of species-specific priorities for the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway and outlining our view on opportunities for the government to support industry and NGO efforts for animal welfare and environmental labelling. Later on that year Defra responded reaffirming their commitment to ongoing engagement on these issues. FAWF will continue to support and encourage Defra, where required, to move forward on plans to improve farm animal welfare in the UK.

Our members

  • RSPCA

    The RSPCA is an animal welfare charity whose vision is to create a world where all animals are respected and treated with kindness and compassion. Its mission is to ensure animals have a good life by rescuing and caring for those in need, by advocating on behalf of all animals and by inspiring everyone to treat them with compassion and respect.

  • British Vet Association

    The BVA is the UK’s largest membership community for the veterinary profession – developing, supporting and championing over 19,000 members of all ages, stages and disciplines. Our vision is a strong, respected, and diverse veterinary profession in which vets are fulfilled and play a leading role in animal health and welfare, public health, and sustainability.

  • Compassion in World Farming International

    Compassion in World Farming International is is a powerful global movement dedicated to ending factory farming and radically changing our food system to reduce reliance on animal protein, before it’s too late.

  • Royal Agricultural University

    The Royal Agricultural University is a recognised leader in the delivery of education, research and consultancy in agriculture, business, equine, environment, food, land management and real estate. Formerly the Royal Agricultural College, the University is the oldest agricultural college in the English-speaking world and has been at the forefront of agricultural education since 1845.

  • Bristol University

    The University of Bristol's Animal Welfare and Behaviour Group based within Bristol University's School of Veterinary Science is a centre of excellence in animal welfare science. Working nationally and internationally with governments, industry and charities, the group carries out high quality animal behaviour and welfare research and teaching, embracing a range of species.

  • World Animal Protection

    For 25 years, World Animal Protection (formerly WSPA) has aimed to promote the concept of animal welfare in regions of the world where there are few, if any, measures to protect animals. Politically, we have campaigned to convince governments and key decision makers to change practices and introduce new laws to protect or improve the welfare of animals..

  • FAI

    Food Animal Initiative (FAI) is a global team of farmers, veterinarians, scientists, and strategists with first-hand experience of food production and its challenges. FAI’s mission is to work with businesses and their supply chains on moving towards delivering positive change within animal based production systems for the benefit of people, animals and the planet.    

    FAI’s strategic and evidence-based approach is focused on driving meaningful improvements across supply chains, mitigating risks and realising long-term business benefits, by inspiring industry actors to meet and exceed key performance outcome measures, rather than telling farmers how to farm.

  • Soil Association

    The Soil Association is the charity working with everyone to transform the way we eat, farm and care for our natural world. We build real solutions from the ground up. Because the only way to solve the issues facing our world is to understand that they are all connected - and that food, farming and forestry are a vital part of the solution. Champions of organic food and farming and with our own organic standards and certification business, the Soil Association have been promoting and implementing high standards of animal welfare for over 75 years.