The answers to these questions would have big outcomes on statistics like âx amount of animals live in factory farmsâ.
Are you sure? My guess is that it wouldnât change much, that most factory farms are âobviouslyâ factory farms, because there isnât a lot of economic or moral incentive to sit on the borderline.
Maybe not for most people reading the people reading the EA forum. I think if you take a serious look at the issues of animal suffering and farmed animal conditions, youâll probably arrive at a number similar to existing statistics on numbers of factory farmed animals.
But I think thereâs plenty of people who have motivated reasoning to doubt those statistics, or minimise the badness/âfactory-ness of a farm, or farming practice. For example, my extended family run a dairy farm. I remember when first reading about factory farms thinking âwell, the family farm isnât like these factory farms⌠right? â
I also think itâs possible animal agriculturists will seize on uncertainty around the term âFactory Farmâ to sow confusion and whitewash animal welfare issues. Suppose that in the future, the concept of âFactory Farmsâ gains widespread public vilification, in the same way that âFossil Fuelsâ does now. Now imagine a pan-European animal agriculture lobby group seizes on the looseness of the term âFactory Farmâ to ensure European farms arenât associated with it:
European farms arenât Factory Farms! We have better animal welfare standards here. There are cage-free policies here! Animal welfare laws! Standards and checks! Itâs only farms outside of Europe that are factory farms, those are the ones that should be counted in the statistics, not European farms!
I donât see this as âeconomic or moral incentive to sit on the borderlineâ but rather âif forced to adhere to higher welfare standards, thereâs an incentive to maximise the reputational gain from thisâ.
Are you sure? My guess is that it wouldnât change much, that most factory farms are âobviouslyâ factory farms, because there isnât a lot of economic or moral incentive to sit on the borderline.
Maybe not for most people reading the people reading the EA forum. I think if you take a serious look at the issues of animal suffering and farmed animal conditions, youâll probably arrive at a number similar to existing statistics on numbers of factory farmed animals.
But I think thereâs plenty of people who have motivated reasoning to doubt those statistics, or minimise the badness/âfactory-ness of a farm, or farming practice. For example, my extended family run a dairy farm. I remember when first reading about factory farms thinking âwell, the family farm isnât like these factory farms⌠right? â
I also think itâs possible animal agriculturists will seize on uncertainty around the term âFactory Farmâ to sow confusion and whitewash animal welfare issues. Suppose that in the future, the concept of âFactory Farmsâ gains widespread public vilification, in the same way that âFossil Fuelsâ does now. Now imagine a pan-European animal agriculture lobby group seizes on the looseness of the term âFactory Farmâ to ensure European farms arenât associated with it:
European farms arenât Factory Farms! We have better animal welfare standards here. There are cage-free policies here! Animal welfare laws! Standards and checks! Itâs only farms outside of Europe that are factory farms, those are the ones that should be counted in the statistics, not European farms!
I donât see this as âeconomic or moral incentive to sit on the borderlineâ but rather âif forced to adhere to higher welfare standards, thereâs an incentive to maximise the reputational gain from thisâ.
edit: added last paragraph