Animals kept and killed for food suffer tremendously while on farms. To address the root causes of this suffering, we advocate for both reducing the number of animals kept and killed for food and increasing plant-based alternatives, and for improving the welfare standards for farmed animals suffering today. Collaboration with farmed animal welfare standard-setting bodies, including Global Animal Partnership (G.A.P.) is an important part of the latter tactic. G.A.P. and other farmed animal welfare certification programs assess producers’ methods and require improvements that push them to go beyond conventional industry practices.

We encourage a shift to plant-based eating, a key pillar of our work, and we are active around the world engaging with institutions, municipalities, schools, companies, restaurants, and food service and hospitality industries to transition millions of meals annually to plant-based options. However, while the plant-based work is vital, we cannot abandon the animals who remain on farms right now. There are now more than 92 billion terrestrial animals kept and killed annually, approximately 20 billion more than just 10 years ago.

We cannot ignore their suffering. By working with animal welfare certifiers such as the G.A.P. program, we can begin to address the litany of other common and routine practices that farmed animals endure.

Meaningful animal welfare standards start with cage- and gestation crate-free housing as a baseline and have dozens of additional requirements. Certifiers send auditors to the farms and check that they, at least, meet a basic set of standards. Among other requirements, certifications:

  • put limits on how early babies can be weaned from their mothers
  • put restrictions around painful procedures such as castration and tail docking
  • require bedding and more comfortable resting areas, environmental enrichment, animal health plans and natural light
  • prohibit the use of poisons and traps to control predators, and
  • limit the distance animals can be transported to slaughter.

The focus of farmed animal welfare certifications is common agricultural practices and while meaningful certifications have a zero-tolerance policy for abuse (and producers caught in these acts are immediately removed from the program), auditors are not constantly present on the farm.

While imperfect, certifications markedly reduce animal suffering and are an important complement to the plant-based work. With our influence, these standards improve and get better over time. Without us at the table to represent the animals impacted, this important tool will wither and weaken.

Our international work with certifiers including Global Animal Partnership and Humane Farm Animal Care, among others, is important for providing technical assistance to poultry and pig producers. Cage- and crate-free systems are more difficult to manage and in the developing world, producers often need guidance to realize the full welfare potential of these systems. Certifications also have segregation protocols to ensure that cage eggs are not sold as cage free, which is a vital component of our work with companies to implement their cage-free egg commitments. Our collaboration with certifiers helps us connect companies to farms that are better than the industry standard.

Along with Compassion in World Farming and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Humane Society of the United States/Humane Society International holds a seat on the Board of Directors for Global Animal Partnership (G.A.P.) and is a founding member.

G.A.P. has been a leader in addressing one of the most intractable and pervasive farm animal welfare issues, a problem that impacts billions of animals globally: the rapid growth of chickens raised for meat. Conventional “broiler” chickens are bred to grow so fast that they reach the weight at which they are slaughtered (about 6 pounds) in just six weeks, leaving them prone to painful and debilitating leg abnormalities and walking disorders. In 2017, G.A.P. initiated a research project with the University of Guelph to conduct the largest broiler chicken welfare study ever undertaken, and based on these findings, G.A.P. selected breeds with demonstrably better welfare outcomes. G.A.P. is on track to complete a revised broiler chicken welfare standard by the end of this year. The new standard due in December sets a timeline for the integration of breeds that have been tested and verified to have better welfare outcomes compared to conventional chickens. It will undoubtedly improve welfare. 

G.A.P. is also an important ally in the policy arena. In 2022, G.A.P. submitted an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case challenging Proposition 12, the California law that now requires cage- and crate-free production throughout the state. G.A.P.’s brief helped make the critical argument that producers can (and do, in the G.A.P. program) use traceability and segregation through the supply chain back to the breeding farm, which was an important argument swaying the justices to uphold California’s historic law.

PETA’s recent outreach mischaracterizes both the G.A.P. program and our role. The G.A.P. program reduces suffering of farm animals every day by setting the bar at a higher level than conventional production and our involvement has made the program stronger. We intend to stay focused on the course that we believe will do the most good for the most animals.