PPILOW · Poultry and PIg Low-input and Organic production systems’ Welfare

The PPILOW project aims to co-construct through a multi-actor approach solutions to improve the welfare of poultry and pigs reared in organic and low-input outdoor farming systems. The first originality of PPILOW is the participatory approach, involving all actors of the production chain from farmers to consumers, citizens, scientists and policy makers, for proposing and studying welfare improvement levers. The second originality of the project is to provide a combination of practical solutions for welfare improvement that can be applied on a pan-European basis with specific adjustments depending on citizen’s expectations and the target market (national legislation or consumer preferences). More precisely, PPILOW will co-create with end-users welfare self-assessment tools, innovative breeding and rearing strategies and techniques for improving the welfare of animals by avoiding mutilations (piglet castration or beak trimming in poultry), the elimination of one day-old layer male chicks, favouring positive behaviours, and improving health and robustness in both species. The innovative solutions will be investigated experimentally and the most promising ones will be tested on-farm. Multi-criteria analyses of the most effective breeding and rearing strategies will then be realised to evaluate their economic, social and environmental impacts based on the ‘One Welfare’ concept embracing sustainability goals with specific emphasis on animal and human welfare. Business models will be created for the use of high-quality products issued from the adoption of PPILOW strategies to improve welfare in organic and low-input outdoor farming systems for poultry and pigs. Finally, to ensure the rapid uptake of the project results by end-users, appropriate dissemination activities will be developed (such as training, digital videos from field partners, EIP abstracts…) and the close involvement of national practitioner groups throughout the EU will be managed to facilitate change.