Ethics: The new challenge for animal agriculture

This paper introduces this volume dedicated to ethics in animal agriculture, in which moral responsibility of the actors of the animal production chain and relations between science, production and the society are analysed. Ethical concepts and their evolution through the ages, and ethical issues arising across different modes of production are presented. The diversity of viewpoints and interests of the stakeholders (farmers, technicians, scientists, consumers and citizens), relative to their values, cultures, and production conditions, is emphasized. The processes by which norms can be built while taking into account this diversity and societal objectives are illustrated at the levels of the profession, the country, Europe or the world. Ethics in animal production is a condition of the acceptability of the products, but also of the animal production sector as a whole.