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WelFarmers project, included in the Horizon Europe Program, has officially started. Since 1st January 2024 and for three years, pig farmers, research centers and higher education institutions will be working together in the EU-funded project ‘WelFarmers’ where more than 50% of the pig production in Europe is represented in the consortium formed by eight European countries.
As a first step, with FPAS as a coordinator, a kick-off meeting took place in Montijo, Portugal, in the beginning of this month. All the seventeen partners of the consortium were present, and they could work hand by hand with the UE representatives who remembered the importance of Animal Welfare at different statements and why well-trained farmers are the key for that. All the partners had the opportunity to present themselves and the first steps for the project with the definitions of the expected outcomes were stablished.
WelFarmers has been created to work on the four very important pig welfare EU Thematic Groups:
- Ban of cages- Loose housing of lactating sows.
- Undocked tails- Production of pigs with non-docked tails.
- Castration- Avoiding pain in castration.
- Space/flooring- Space allowance and flooring for growers and finishers
Placing practitioners at the center of the R&I activities and with the clear objective to work “not only for practitioners but also with them” WelFarmers will accelerate implementation and increase acceptance of welfare solutions by identifying and sharing best practices to make it even more feasible to improve pig welfare on farms across Europe.
WelFarmers is a unique approach where good practices in the eight participating countries and within the four themes will be identified and evaluated and the best practices will be awarded, and not the least be shared, so the practices can be implemented at many more pig farms improving the pig’s welfare.
To achieve the goals of the project, there will be one Regional Network (RN) in each of the participating countries. The RN’s will be organised by farmers and their organizations, and they will select the most innovative good practices for the four themes in pig farms in the different regions. In addition to the RN’s, there will be established one Thematic Group (TG) per theme. The TG’s can consist of pig producers, policy makers and competent authorities, advisors, scientists and food chain and their purpose will be to evaluate the Good Practices that meet the main challenges for the EU pig sector as identified by eight Regional Network (RN).
During the project period a total of 192 good practices will be identified. From them, 40 best practices will be selected and finally 24 of them will be awarded. The practices awarded will not only be described in relation to pig welfare but also the environmental and economic impact will be evaluated to assure that there is a balance between pig welfare, environmental and climatic impact, and farm economy.
All the information about the project: Objectives, partners, activities, progress and all the future materials and deliverables as “Good Practices”, technical articles, abstracts, webinars, virtual farm tours etc. will be available through the project website that will be placed soon in Pig333.com and in all the different editions of 333, partner of the project.
Follow soon WelFarmers social media and WelFarmers profile in 333 where you will be in-formed about all the project.
February 29, 2024 - WelFarmers project.
