Protect The Harvest | APHIS Predicts Farm Animals Could Ultimately Be Subject to AWA Regulation

The Animal and Plant Inspection Health Service (APHIS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture sub-agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) , 7 U.S.C. § 2131, et seq. In connection with its “Strategic Plan” for 2023-27, APHIS issued a Strategic Foresight Report that “examines 10 societal, environmental, and technological trends that the Agency must be prepared to navigate. ” One such trend is “[e]volving perceptions around animal welfare and wildlife in human society.”

The animal welfare segment of the strategic foresight report contained some interesting remarks about farm animals, pets and the probability that farm animals will ultimately be subject to regulation under the AWA. That segment listed what APHIS says it “knows today:”

As can be seen, APHIS sees an increasing trend in farm animals being recognized as pets. Next to what APHIS says it knows today is what APHIS expects to “see ahead:”

These observations are quite interesting. Evidently, APHIS believes that, as more people make livestock into pets, that will be the fulcrum for the agency to expand its regulation to include farm animals. As APHIS summed it up in the “Shifting Values” section of the report:

In the future, more Americans will live in urban regions. They will seek healthier nutrient-dense products,