What is careful livestock farming? Substantiating the layered meaning of the term ‘careful’ and drawing implications for the stakeholder dialogue

Publication date: November 2013 Source:NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences, Volume 66 Author(s): H.J. Nijland , H.C.M. van Trijp , M.N.C. Aarts , P.T.M. Ingenbleek Modern livestock farming systems typically stand out in terms of production efficiency and chain integration. However, the legitimacy of animal production systems is currently being questioned, due to social and ecological concerns. The term ‘careful’ livestock farming has been coined to reflect a production system that addresses this broader range of concerns. In this paper we argue that although the term ‘careful’ provides a useful starting point to bind together a diversity of concerns that require further attention, it lacks action-ability unless its meaning is further substantiated. Such substantiation is important to provide more concrete action perspectives both in relation to consumers as well as the diverse group of other stakeholders involved. First, the term careful is analysed from the perspectives of consumer psychology, ethics, and organizational science, showing a high level of agreement on the underlying dynamics and layers of the concept. The resulting insights are integrated into a pragmatic map with social and temporal dimensions, combined with three basic questions: (1) what levels of psychological distance are taken into consideration when designing farming practices? (2), what are the concrete farming system/product features and their benefits?, and (3) how are the benef...
Source: NJAS Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences - Category: Biology Source Type: research