Dr Ragnar Tauson, President of the Organizing Committee Uppsala 2013 and the Swedish Branch of WPSA writes:

“On behalf of the Swedish Organizing Committee, the International Scientific Committee, the Swedish Branch of WPSA and the Working Group no. 9 ‘Poultry Welfare and Management’ of the European Branch of the WPSA, we are pleased to invite you to Uppsala, Sweden on June 17th to 20th 2013 to attend the IX European Symposium on Poultry Welfare. At this meeting, we will share and discuss the latest developments, scientific findings and experiences in order to assist the poultry industry to keep bird welfare at high levels and in line with future demands while maintaining production at acceptable levels.

“The European poultry industry, especially, has faced considerable constraints regarding production methods during the last decade. The EU directive on minimum welfare standards for layers was to be fully implemented no later than January 1st 2012 and the standards for meat producing chickens are already in force.

“The organic poultry production has increased considerably in many countries in recent years. This production is also facing strict European directives mainly on nutrition, stocking density and age at slaughter. Two different EFSA reports, on the welfare of broiler breeders and the animal welfare aspects of broiler genetics respectively, have recently been published and may influence both industry standards and EU minimum legislation in the future.

“Thus, all welfare directives and reports prepared are challenging to the industry and for the welfare of the birds. Also, different national conditions exist which may strongly affect the success of specific production systems. One relevant and controversial topic in this context is beak trimming.

“The discussion on competitiveness and costs of production methods used in different continents/countries is still on the agenda. However, having so far been mainly a European topic, there are now clear developments in several other countries and continents that the development of welfare issues are spreading.

“The scientific programme of the IX European Symposium on Poultry Welfare in Uppsala will address a wide range of topics influencing welfare and sustainability of poultry keeping in different countries. Topics like production and rearing methods, behaviour, health, nutrition, genetics and important interactions between them will be covered.

“Once again, welcome to Uppsala in June 2013 – the city of science and art – the home town of, for example, chemist Anders Celsius, botanist Carl Linnaeus and film director Ingmar Bergman. We hope for a high number of participants, not only from Europe of course, but from many parts of the world – do not forget poultry is the most widely spread food producing species on land in the world!” concluded Dr Tauson.

For more information about the European Symposium on Poultry Welfare, click here.