The Farm Animal Welfare Certification Guide helps farmers and business owners adopt and communicate higher animal welfare standards. 

The lack of welfare standards and transparency in industrial animal agriculture endangers farm animals, misleads consumers, and puts higher-welfare farmers at a disadvantage. Meanwhile, the demand for products with meaningful welfare certifications is rising at a steady pace as consumers become more concerned about inhumane factory farming practices.  

Some farmers seek animal welfare certifications in order to communicate their higher-welfare practices to these conscious consumers. But deciding what certification to pursue—and how to pursue it—can be complicated. CAFS teamed up with ASPCA to create a comprehensive guide to animal welfare certification for farmers and business owners. 

Updated in October 2019, the resource includes case studies, step-by-step breakdowns of each certification process, and a comparison of key differences between three recommended programs: Animal Welfare Approved, Certified Humane, and Global Animal Partnership.  

It also includes a funding section highlighting grants that support farmers’ transition to welfare-certified systems. To date, only Vermont has passed legislation explicitly naming animal welfare certification projects as eligible for grant funding, though the updated Welfare Certification Guide attempts to identify all the existing state and federal resources available to farmers.  

The guide will help farmers and food producers understand what welfare-certified farming can look like—ultimately giving them the tools to sustain humane practices and greater transparency.