Only half of farmed animals are arthropods? Among cattle, hens, broilers, and farmed black soldier fly (BSF) larvae, mealworms, finfishes, and shrimps, I calculateonly 51.5 % (= 2.68*10^11/(5.20*10^11)) are arthropods (farmed BSF larvae, mealworms, or shrimps). In addition, I estimate the welfare of the aforementioned farmed arthropods is 11.4 % (= −2.02*10^9/(-1.77*10^10)) of that of the aforementioned farmed animals for my preferred way of comparing welfare across species (where individual welfare per animal-year is proportional to “number of neurons”^0.5).
I do not expect all farmed animals to be arthropods as a 1st approximation in the next few years, but it looks like their fraction will increase. My numbers above rely on Rethink Priorities’ (RP’s) estimate of 223 billion farmed finfishes alive at any time in 2022, 38.2 billion farmed BSF larvae and mealworms alive at any time in 2022, and 230 billion farmed shrimps alive at any time in 2020. However, for RP’s projections of 259 billion farmed finfishes, 417 billion farmed BSF larvae and mealworms, and 399 billion farmed shrimps alive at any time in 2033, there would be 36.0 billion (= (259 − 223)*10^9) more farmed finfishes, and 379 billion (= (417 − 38.2 + 399 − 230)*10^9) more farmed arthropods. So, holding the population of farmed vertebrates besides farmed finfishes constant, 69.2 % (= (2.68 + 3.79)*10^11/((5.20 + 3.79 + 0.360)*10^11)) of the farmed animals in 2033 would be arthropods.
Thanks, Vasco! Abraham’s post covers many more farmed insects than BSF and mealworms. (For instance, the lower end of his farmed cochineal estimate is 4.6T deaths annually.) When you include those other species, I think the “rounding error” claim becomes more plausible. (Sorry not to be clear in the post: I probably gave the impression that I was only thinking of the standard “insects as food and feed” species.)
Thanks for the post, Bob!
Only half of farmed animals are arthropods? Among cattle, hens, broilers, and farmed black soldier fly (BSF) larvae, mealworms, finfishes, and shrimps, I calculate only 51.5 % (= 2.68*10^11/(5.20*10^11)) are arthropods (farmed BSF larvae, mealworms, or shrimps). In addition, I estimate the welfare of the aforementioned farmed arthropods is 11.4 % (= −2.02*10^9/(-1.77*10^10)) of that of the aforementioned farmed animals for my preferred way of comparing welfare across species (where individual welfare per animal-year is proportional to “number of neurons”^0.5).
I do not expect all farmed animals to be arthropods as a 1st approximation in the next few years, but it looks like their fraction will increase. My numbers above rely on Rethink Priorities’ (RP’s) estimate of 223 billion farmed finfishes alive at any time in 2022, 38.2 billion farmed BSF larvae and mealworms alive at any time in 2022, and 230 billion farmed shrimps alive at any time in 2020. However, for RP’s projections of 259 billion farmed finfishes, 417 billion farmed BSF larvae and mealworms, and 399 billion farmed shrimps alive at any time in 2033, there would be 36.0 billion (= (259 − 223)*10^9) more farmed finfishes, and 379 billion (= (417 − 38.2 + 399 − 230)*10^9) more farmed arthropods. So, holding the population of farmed vertebrates besides farmed finfishes constant, 69.2 % (= (2.68 + 3.79)*10^11/((5.20 + 3.79 + 0.360)*10^11)) of the farmed animals in 2033 would be arthropods.
Thanks, Vasco! Abraham’s post covers many more farmed insects than BSF and mealworms. (For instance, the lower end of his farmed cochineal estimate is 4.6T deaths annually.) When you include those other species, I think the “rounding error” claim becomes more plausible. (Sorry not to be clear in the post: I probably gave the impression that I was only thinking of the standard “insects as food and feed” species.)