bioRxiv preprint first posted online Jul. 30, 2018; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/380550. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Full title: How do citizens perceive farm animal welfare conditions in Brazil?
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Short title: Citizens’ perceptions about animal welfare
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Ricardo Guimarães de Queiroz1¶, Carla Heloisa de Faria Domingues1¶, Maria Eugênia Andrighetto
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Canozzi2¶, Rodrigo Garófallo Garcia1&, Clandio Favarini Ruviaro1&, Júlio Otávio Jardim Barcellos2&,
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João Augusto Rossi Borges1¶*
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1Federal
University of Grande Dourados, Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
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2Centro
de Estudos e Pesquisas em Agronegócios, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto
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Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
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* Corresponding author
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E-mail:
[email protected] (JARB)
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¶
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&
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These authors contributed equally to this work. These authors also contributed equally to this work.
bioRxiv preprint first posted online Jul. 30, 2018; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/380550. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Abstract
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The aim of this study is to understand the perceptions of Brazilian citizens about the actual conditions
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of farm animal welfare in the poultry, beef, and dairy supply chains. To reach this aim, an online
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survey was conducted. The analysis was based on descriptive statistics and three logistic regressions
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models. Results of descriptive statistics showed that citizens in Brazil had mostly negative perceptions
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about the actual conditions of animal welfare in the poultry, beef, and dairy supply chains. Results of
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the logistic regression models showed that in the poultry and dairy supply chains, citizens with
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background in agricultural/veterinary sciences, and citizens who reported a higher level of knowledge
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about these supply chains, were more likely to perceive as bad the actual conditions of farm animal
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welfare. In the poultry supply chain, citizens who reported previous contact with poultry farms were
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also more likely to perceive as bad the actual condition of farm animal welfare. In addition, the
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perception that farmers are mainly focused on the economic aspect of farming and less on animal
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welfare, the perception that animals do not have a good quality of life while housed on farms, and the
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perception that animals are not adequately transported and slaughtered, negatively impact on
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perceptions about the actual conditions of farm animal welfare in the three supply chains. We
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concluded that a protocol aimed to improve citizens’ perceptions about the actual conditions of farm
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animal welfare should focus in all phases of the supply chains.
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Introduction
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In the last decades, there is an increasing public concern about the welfare of animals used for
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food production, with citizens, particularly from developed countries, questioning the intensification of
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animal production systems and requiring that farm animals have a good life [1]. In some countries,
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pressure from society has led to changes in animal production systems, which resulted in
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improvements of farm animal welfare (FAW) standards [1 – 3]. However, in some cases, changes in
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animal production systems may not be well suited for all stakeholders in food supply chains [4].
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Therefore, if we want to successfully implement strategies to improve FAW standards, it is important
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to understand the concerns and perceptions of all stakeholders involved in food supply chains [1].
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Particularly important is the understanding of society’ perceptions about FAW, because citizens play
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an important role in determining what is acceptable or not when it comes to FAW. For instance,
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citizens can pressure the government to implement laws to improve the welfare of animals used for
bioRxiv preprint first posted online Jul. 30, 2018; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/380550. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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food production or they can choose to buy certain type of products that guarantee good FAW standards
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[5].
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A common approach used by researchers to investigate societal attitudes and perceptions is to
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carry on surveys about a specific farming practices or animal production systems that impact on FAW
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[4, 6–11]. Another approach is to carry on surveys to investigate more general perceptions (e.g.
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awareness) about FAW [12–16]. Most of these studies are conducted in developed countries in Europe
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and North America. In Brazil, one of the leading countries in livestock production, studies on society
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perceptions about FAW are emerging but there is a need to deeper our understanding of how Brazilian
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society perceives FAW conditions. Previous research conducted in Brazil has focused on citizens’
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perceptions about specific farming practices [3, 17] and animal production systems that impact on
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FAW [18]. Our study moves beyond the previous literature by focusing on Brazilian citizens’
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perceptions about the actual conditions of FAW on poultry, beef, and dairy supply chains and in the
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factors that might explain their perceptions. These factors include socio-demographic characteristics,
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awareness about animal welfare, knowledge about supply chains, perceptions about farming,
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perceptions about the quality of life of farm animals, perceptions about the use of animals for human
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consumption and perceptions about the conditions of transport and slaughtering in each supply chain.
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Therefore, the aim of this was to understand the perceptions of Brazilian citizens about the actual
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conditions of farm animal welfare in the poultry, beef, and dairy supply chains.
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Material and methods
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Survey and sampling
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We developed three similar questionnaires: one for poultry supply chain, one for beef supply
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chain, and one for dairy supply chain. The questionnaires consisted of three groups of questions. In the
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first group, we measured participants’ socio-demographic characteristics. In the second group, we
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measured participants’ perceptions about the actual conditions of FAW on each supply chain and other
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questions related to animal welfare. All the variables and scales used are presented in S1 Table. In the
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third group, we used statements to measure participants’ perceptions about animal welfare. The
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statements were adapted from Boogaard et al. [12]. Statements used to measure participants’
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perceptions are presented in S2 Table. All questions and statements were specifically adapted for each
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of the three supply chains. This project received research ethics board approval from Federal
bioRxiv preprint first posted online Jul. 30, 2018; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/380550. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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University of Grande Dourados/Faculty of Management, Accounting and Economics. Before starting
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data collection, the questionnaire was tested with 20 participants. All the questions were translated to
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Portuguese.
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To collect the data, we conducted an anonymous online survey. In a first step, we contacted
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by phone human resource departments in several universities across Brazil. In this first contact, we
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explained the purpose of our research, and asked if the department would forward a survey link for the
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personal e-mail of students, professors and administration staff. Upon acceptance, we sent a follow-up
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e-mail to human resource departments with the survey link and a brief description of the research,
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which was then disseminated online for the academic community. Each university disseminated the
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questionnaire of only one supply chain. We received 1.617 questionnaires of which three were
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disregarded because they were incomplete. The final number of questionnaires was 728 for the poultry
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supply chain, 586 for the beef supply chain, and 300 for the dairy supply chain. The data collection
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took place from November 2016 until December 2017.
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Statistical analysis
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Statistical analysis was conducted in two steps. In a first step, we used factor analysis to
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reduce the number of items used to represent participants’ perceptions about animal welfare. Principal
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component was used as the extraction method. The criterion to define the number of factors was an
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eigenvalue greater than one [19]. Items were included in a factor when they presented factor loadings
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greater than 0.5. Factors scores were generated for subsequent analysis [19].
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In a second step, we run three logistic regression models. The three dependent variables were
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participants’ perceptions about the actual conditions of FAW on each supply chain. In the original
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questionnaires, this variable was measured in a Likert scale from 1 to 5 (S1 Table). In order to run the
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logistic models, we transformed the variable participants’ perceptions about the actual conditions of
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FAW on each supply chain into a binary variable, where participants who answered 1 or 2 were
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gathered to a bad condition group (Bad:0) and participants who answered 3, 4 or 5 were gathered to
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regular condition group (Regular:1). We tested the impact of two groups of independent variables:
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participants’ socio-demographic characteristics, and participants’ perceptions about animal welfare.
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The significance level was p