WelFarmers

WelFarmers will set up eight national innovation networks and four Europe-wide networks of pig farmers, advisors, veterinarians and researchers to address the challenges of the upcoming change in the European pig welfare legislation. WelFarmers will address four main topics: cage ban; keeping pigs with uncovered tails; avoiding pain during castration and space and flooring. The most urgent innovation needs and challenges will be identified in a bottom-up way and the network will collect and evaluate good practices that meet these needs. WelFarmers will also strive to collaborate with existing and new EIP-AGRI operational groups (OGs) and EU research projects focused on pig welfare and to enhance their impact. The selected best practices will be disseminated through a series of communication and dissemination activities to reach most pig farmers in the eight participating countries and in Europe. EIP abstracts, thematic reports videos, brochures, e-news, national workshops, transnational cross-fertilisation events and a multilingual website are some of the dissemination methods planned to communicate and disseminate the best practices. 

Reference: HORIZON-CL6-2023-GOVERNANCE-01-19. Proposal Nº101134117 

Total funding: 2,998,553€ 

Funding for CECAV/UTAD: 97,750€ 

Leading institution: Portuguese Federation of Pig Farmers Association  

Partners: Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro and 15 European institutions. 

Project leader at CECAV/UTAD: Divanildo Monteiro