The eyeball test and sustainability

Here is a March 4 report that indicates that British consumers are increasingly turning toward "free range" chickens (sustainable) compared to the "cooped up" kind. From the story:

UK consumers appear to be increasingly buying chicken meat from producers employing higher animal welfare standards, according to a new survey. A recent survey by UK Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) reveals 73 per cent of consumers now buy higher welfare chicken since learning about the conditions in which standard chickens are farmed.
The British Poultry Council (BPC) represents companies involved in breeding and processing poultry. It said in a statement that free range chicken sales are still only 6 per cent of total UK chicken sales but are a growing part of shoppers' buying preferences.
A study earlier this year by researchers at Bristol University warned: "Since the sustainability of intensive broiler production depends on continued consumer acceptance of the farm practices involved, the broiler industry will need to work with the scientific community to…ensure that optimal husbandry and management practices are fully implemented."
The study had concluded that the huge increase in growth rates of broiler chickens (reared for their meat) means that more than a quarter of intensively-reared birds have difficulty walking.

TK: The image of chickens that were unable to walk and being trampled on by thousands of other chickens in a confined facility is too much for consumers to bear, yet those images were shown them in recent coverage of "Supermarket Secrets" - posted earlier on Fresh Talk. A lot of electrons and ink are being devoted to the issue of sustainability in produce - note the Pundit today - yet I don't think the consuming public will be as passionate about "sustainable" broccoli production as sustainable chicken rearing. At the most basic level, the eyeball test of a conventional field of broccoli differs little from a field of organic broccoli. Exploring the nuances of organic/sustainable and respective definitions is probably a worthy exercise, but I don't think consumers have a visceral reaction to the issue. Chickens that can't walk, on the other hand......