SOWtrack is an ambitious and practical project that combines science, policy, and farming practice. By identifying the most effective welfare measures, developing a harmonised protocol, and collecting data from 345 farms, the project will create a trusted EU-wide database on sow and piglet welfare.
Farmers are essential partners in this work. Participation is voluntary, confidential, and will be associated with both feedback and compensation. Data protection is guaranteed at every stage, ensuring that information remains secure.
In the long term, SOWtrack will strengthen risk assessment, guide evidence-based policymaking, and help improve welfare outcomes across Europe’s pig sector. For farmers, it represents an opportunity to contribute to the future of welfare assessment while gaining insights that support their own farm management.
Benefits
- The future of business: A harmonised welfare assessment system makes it possible to compare fairly in a large market. Animal welfare can become a clear quality marker for your product. To make sure your production system is recognised, it’s important to be part of building the database. Otherwise your way of farming may be left out.
- The future of policy: The idea of collecting a large database is to be able to simulate effects of new regulations. If your system is not included, rules will be based more on other farming systems. Therefore, participation in SOWtrack enables you to show to show how good your system works. Let EFSA see real welfare numbers in relation to farrowing systems. It may really affect EU policy.
What participation involves
- One half-day farm visit by a trained assessor.
- Non-invasive observations of sows and piglets, plus the recording of basic farm context information.
- Optional inclusion of production or health records if available.
Benefits for farmers
- Confidential feedback: Participating farms will receive benchmarking reports comparing their results (anonymised) with those from similar systems in other countries.
- Contribution to science and policy: Farmers will directly contribute to the first harmonised EU database on sow and piglet welfare.
- Compensation: Farmers will be reimbursed for their time and effort in hosting assessors.
SOWtrack participation is voluntary, and recruitment is supported by local organisations, farmer associations, and advisory services to ensure smooth communication and support.
Expected outcomes
By the end of the project, SOWtrack will deliver:
- A validated repository of welfare measures for sows and piglets
- A harmonised, practical protocol for on-farm welfare assessment
- A trained network of welfare assessors across 10 countries
- A secure EU-wide database populated with data from 345 farms
- Confidential benchmarking feedback for participating farmers
- Evidence to support EFSA’s risk assessments and EU policymaking
These outcomes will provide a robust scientific foundation for monitoring welfare, while supporting farmers with practical insights and fair recognition of their role in advancing the sector.
The Consortium
SOWtrack brings together leading universities, research institutes, and reference centres in animal welfare across Europe. The project is coordinated by the University of Helsinki, with core partners including the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (leading Objective 1) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (leading Objective 2).
Supporting partners across 10 countries provide expertise in welfare science, farm management, and local recruitment. EURCAW-Pigs partners, including the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut and Wageningen University & Research, play a central role in assessor training and future sustainability of the database.
This combination of scientific, technical, and practical expertise will ensure that SOWtrack can deliver both high-quality science and real-world feasibility.
