G.A.P. is excited to announce the formation of our international Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). Though G.A.P. has always worked closely with the scientific community, we felt it was imperative to formalize a more intimate committee dedicated to advancing G.A.P.’s standards. As you know, our comprehensive animal welfare standards are based in science, and then field-tested to ensure they are practical enough to be applied and properly audited on-farm. Our G.A.P. Farm team members have advanced degrees in animal welfare science, so adding the Scientific Advisory Committee to augment our thinking and future standards will only make our program stronger.
Comprised of nine renowned scientific leaders in farm animal welfare, this diverse group will provide G.A.P. with the latest technical and scientific findings on animal welfare matters, as well as feedback on standards and clarifications. Each scientist was hand-selected for their species-specific expert knowledge, skillset and geographical representation.
Our in-house Farm Animal Welfare team is excited that the committee will help provide the most up-to-date research and technologies that advance animal welfare and continue to set the best animal welfare standards in the world.
Our Scientific Advisory Committee includes:
| Dr Victoria Braithwaite | Penn State University | USA |
| Dr Hans Coetzee | Kansas State University | USA |
| Dr Ian JH Duncan | University of Guelph | Canada |
| Dr Cathy Dwyer | Scotland’s Rural College | Scotland |
| Dr Marisa Erasmus | Purdue University | USA |
| Dr Jeremy Marchant- Forde | USDA – Agricultural Research Service | USA |
| Dr Ruth Newberry | Norwegian University of Life Sciences | Norway |
| Dr Victoria Sandilands | Scotland’s Rural College | Scotland |
| Dr Daniel M Weary | University of British Columbia | Canada |
The G.A.P. team recently met with the SAC in Austin, Texas for a two-day conference and roundtable discussion. Receiving such valuable input from scientists at the top of their fields will inform our current G.A.P. animal welfare standards, as well as ones we are just beginning to develop for dairy cows and farmed fish.
Stay tuned for more information and biographies for each of G.A.P.’s Scientific Advisory Committee members or visit our SAC page.
