I’m also unsure about factory farmed animals vs. animals on hobby farms or smaller-scale farms. I was referring to only, specifically factory farms. ~99% of farmed animals are on factory farms, so what to do about other kinds of farms is a much more minor consideration. It still matters, it just matters ~1% as much.
I think you are on the right track with your discussion of keeping much fewer cows, pigs, chickens, etc. in much more humane conditions. Which is to say, I agree with the track you’re on.
The main point I’d add in addition to what you just said is that I’m not picky about the species of the creatures (human or non-human) that replace the factory farmed animals. For example, if it somehow (I don’t know how) turned out that the resources we saved by eliminating factory farms (e.g. by replacing them with the stuff the charity New Harvest is working on) meant we can support a lot more pet dogs and cats on the Earth, the large majority of whom were well-loved and well-treated, then I would be happy with that outcome.
Factory farmed animals could be replaced by humans, by other animals, or by animals of the same species (e.g. cows, pigs, and chickens) in smaller numbers, and any of those scenarios would be okay. More than okay, good.
If you think of the limited resources we have, such as energy, land, human labour, money/​wealth/​capital, etc., those resources can support a certain number of lives of a certain level of quality, and we are always making that trade-off, not a trade-off between lives and no lives.
I’m also unsure about factory farmed animals vs. animals on hobby farms or smaller-scale farms. I was referring to only, specifically factory farms. ~99% of farmed animals are on factory farms, so what to do about other kinds of farms is a much more minor consideration. It still matters, it just matters ~1% as much.
I think you are on the right track with your discussion of keeping much fewer cows, pigs, chickens, etc. in much more humane conditions. Which is to say, I agree with the track you’re on.
The main point I’d add in addition to what you just said is that I’m not picky about the species of the creatures (human or non-human) that replace the factory farmed animals. For example, if it somehow (I don’t know how) turned out that the resources we saved by eliminating factory farms (e.g. by replacing them with the stuff the charity New Harvest is working on) meant we can support a lot more pet dogs and cats on the Earth, the large majority of whom were well-loved and well-treated, then I would be happy with that outcome.
Factory farmed animals could be replaced by humans, by other animals, or by animals of the same species (e.g. cows, pigs, and chickens) in smaller numbers, and any of those scenarios would be okay. More than okay, good.
If you think of the limited resources we have, such as energy, land, human labour, money/​wealth/​capital, etc., those resources can support a certain number of lives of a certain level of quality, and we are always making that trade-off, not a trade-off between lives and no lives.