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Social Welfare and the Selection of the Optimum Hog Slaughter Weight in Quebec
Author(s) -
Goldsmith Peter D.,
Pomar Candido,
Tao Zhisong,
Rivest Joel
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
canadian journal of agricultural economics/revue canadienne d'agroeconomie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.505
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1744-7976
pISSN - 0008-3976
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7976.2003.tb00176.x
Subject(s) - meaning (existential) , harm , context (archaeology) , perspective (graphical) , animal welfare , selection (genetic algorithm) , quality (philosophy) , set (abstract data type) , production (economics) , interpretation (philosophy) , welfare , public economics , function (biology) , social welfare , politics , computer science , economics , microeconomics , political science , psychology , artificial intelligence , biology , law , epistemology , ecology , paleontology , philosophy , evolutionary biology , psychotherapist , programming language
What is the optimum slaughter weight? It depends from whose perspective. A dynamic systems model is built to analyze the welfare impact of alternative animal genetics, feeding program, feed quality and slaughter weight on producers, processors and the environment. The unique systems approach analyzes eight possible welfare rules and a corresponding harm function to assess animal performance within a multistakeholder context. The model results show there are significant tradeoff problems among producers, processors and the environment. The model highlights how the definition of animal performance needs to be revisited, as it has different meaning to different stakeholders in society. While performance historically was synonymous with production efficiency, with new social and political concerns, this interpretation is not universal. The model demonstrates greater complexities by broadening the set of affected parties.