Protect numerous and neglected species from intensive confinement systems as new forms of animal agriculture emerge
I wonder if you consider the potential rise of meat consumption in Africa due to the projected wealth increase in many African countries to be one of the greatest new factory farming crisis? And if yes, do you consider that to be one of the greatest priority areas?
Thanks for the question Fai! Various projections of rising meat consumption and with it farming more animals in more intensive conditions seems one of the ways animal suffering gets much larger in future decades and exeracerbates the moral atrocity already happening.
This is why we are intentionally spending more of our effort looking for opportunities in Africa to prevent and roll back intensive farming methods liked caged hen farming and other forms of new animal farming that could be more scalable in Africa than Europe or the USA due to lower costs and more room to grow. However, we don’t expect AWF will deliver most impact by focusing on reducing meat consumption in Africa specifically. There are other sources of funding specifically focused on that work and other promising opportunities that others won’t support that we think AWF should prioritize. Furthermore, we haven’t identified tractable, cost-effective opportunities to reduce the growth of factory farming in general, and that’s why we focus on particular practices and efforts that affect welfare of animals trapped in the system.
This is why we are intentionally spending more of our effort looking for opportunities in Africa to prevent and roll back intensive farming methods liked caged hen farming
Is the rise of caged broiler systems also under your radar? That includes its rise in China (where this system started), Asia, and Africa.
Part of AWF’s resources will be allocated to uncovering new areas (new in terms of currently not receiving a lot of attention and resources from the movement) where opportunities might offer the same or larger counterfactual impact as existing areas. Caged broiler farming is an idea that will be considered as part of our process for shortlisting “new areas” to explore and actively support, in collaboration with the animal advocacy community. If anyone wants to work on this issue, we’re very happy to learn more from them.
Thank you for the post!
I wonder if you consider the potential rise of meat consumption in Africa due to the projected wealth increase in many African countries to be one of the greatest new factory farming crisis? And if yes, do you consider that to be one of the greatest priority areas?
Thanks for the question Fai!
Various projections of rising meat consumption and with it farming more animals in more intensive conditions seems one of the ways animal suffering gets much larger in future decades and exeracerbates the moral atrocity already happening.
This is why we are intentionally spending more of our effort looking for opportunities in Africa to prevent and roll back intensive farming methods liked caged hen farming and other forms of new animal farming that could be more scalable in Africa than Europe or the USA due to lower costs and more room to grow.
However, we don’t expect AWF will deliver most impact by focusing on reducing meat consumption in Africa specifically. There are other sources of funding specifically focused on that work and other promising opportunities that others won’t support that we think AWF should prioritize. Furthermore, we haven’t identified tractable, cost-effective opportunities to reduce the growth of factory farming in general, and that’s why we focus on particular practices and efforts that affect welfare of animals trapped in the system.
Thanks for sharing! I have a follow up question:
Is the rise of caged broiler systems also under your radar? That includes its rise in China (where this system started), Asia, and Africa.
Yes it’s on our radar, partly thanks to you!
Part of AWF’s resources will be allocated to uncovering new areas (new in terms of currently not receiving a lot of attention and resources from the movement) where opportunities might offer the same or larger counterfactual impact as existing areas. Caged broiler farming is an idea that will be considered as part of our process for shortlisting “new areas” to explore and actively support, in collaboration with the animal advocacy community. If anyone wants to work on this issue, we’re very happy to learn more from them.