Animal Welfare Initiative: Retail is investing heavily
The trading companies in the Animal Welfare Initiative (ITW) are massively increasing their financial commitment in order to further increase the broad impact of the initiative. Because the interest of the pig farmers is great: A total of 2021 pig farms have registered for the current program 2023-6.832. Including 1.027 sow farmers and 1.240 piglet breeders with a good 14 million piglets. That is more than twice as many piglets as in the 2018-2020 program. Instead of around 75 million euros for the years 2021-2023 as planned, the food retailers participating in the ITW are now providing around 135 million euros for piglet producers in a fund. This enables all interested companies to participate in the ITW.
"The willingness of farmers to commit to animal welfare is absolutely impressive," explains Dr. Alexander Hinrichs, Managing Director of the Animal Welfare Initiative. “Around 14 million piglets and over 17 million fattening pigs can currently benefit from the ITW. We did not expect the great interest from piglet producers alone to this extent. We are all the more pleased about the willingness of the trade to ensure that we do not need a waiting list with additional financial resources. "
In Germany pig farming takes place in several stages. From sows to piglet rearing to fattening, it is not uncommon for several farmers to be involved. So that sow farmers participating in the ITW can deliver to piglet breeders who are also participating, the traders participating in the ITW have set up a fund from which the piglet producers receive an animal welfare surcharge per piglet in addition to the market price.
A different principle applies to participating pig farmers. You will receive the animal welfare surcharge set by the ITW of currently 5,28 euros per animal via the slaughterhouse. The ITW also recorded a considerable increase in fattening pigs. While there were around 12 million animals in the previous program, 2021 million fattening pigs have already been registered for the 2023-17,3 program. This means that the fattening pigs from the participating ITW farms make up over 34 percent of the fattening pigs produced in Germany.
The ITW is already in the third program phase with the 2021-2023 program. Since their start in January 2015, the participating food retailers have already jointly invested around 645 million euros in the animal welfare of pigs, chickens and turkeys.
About the Initiative animal welfare
With the Tierwohl (ITW) initiative launched in 2015, the partners from agriculture, the meat industry, food retail and gastronomy commit themselves to their joint responsibility for animal husbandry, animal health and animal welfare in livestock husbandry. The animal welfare initiative supports farmers in implementing measures for the welfare of their livestock that go beyond the legal standards. The implementation of these measures is monitored across the board by the Animal Welfare Initiative. The Animal Welfare Initiative's product seal only identifies products that come from animals from participating companies in the Animal Welfare Initiative. The animal welfare initiative is gradually establishing more animal welfare on a broad basis and is continuously being further developed in the process.
