Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** this project seeks to enhance…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** this project seeks to enhance understanding and build trust between producers and consumers in order to facilitate convergence of decision-making related to animal welfare and environmental impacts of meat production. Consumers increasingly demand radical changes to animal agriculture production systems in order to improve sustainability across multiple domains. Messaging to consumers is often over-simplified, single-issue-focused, and contradictory, leading to confusion for consumers trying to make the most impactful choices. This in turn results in market signals that are similarly unclear or contradictory, are frequently unhelpful for producers trying to make meaningful environmental and welfare-related improvements, and may in some instances actually hinder progress towards optimal solutions. Overall, this situation has the effect of eroding trust between consumers and producers and impeding transformational change. Work conducted as part of this project will address this disconnect through fully transdisciplinary, tightly coordinated research, education, and extension. We propose to (1) illuminate the complexity of animal agriculture decision-making related to animal welfare and environmental impact (2) assess how producers' perceptions of complexity in this space are aligned or misaligned with consumer perceptions and issue framings in existing consumer research, (3) apply an innovative educational model to facilitate convergence of understanding between producers and consumers related to complexity in this space, and (4) translate findings into actionable recommendations for the animal agriculture value chain regarding practices, communication, and policy.