Organic poultry farming: opportunities and challenges

Publication date: 26/02/2019
Extent: 22 pages

Contributions by: Mette Vaarst, Aarhus University, Denmark; Klaus Horsted, Danish Centre for Food and Agriculture DCA, Aarhus University, Denmark; and Veronika Maurer, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Switzerland

Chapter synopsis: Poultry constitute a fascinating and diverse group of animals with huge potentials to adapt to many local conditions and to be integrated into a wide variety of organic farming systems throughout the world. Poultry herds fit into many different farm settings throughout the world, including the diverse farming environments in Europe. However, at the other end of the range of organic poultry production, we see increasingly industrial farms based on a complete separation between organic egg and broiler breeds, some with the same welfare and disease problems as the non-organic systems. This chapter looks at organic poultry production through the lenses of the four organic IFOAM principles, and discusses current options and challenges such as genetic material and breeds, and possible future developments with a focus on animal welfare and health, beyond existing systems, for example agroforestry and mobile housing systems, and integration into peri-urban and urban system.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2017.0028.15