2. JBS Gestation Crates—Pre-existing Policy Presented As a New Commitment, according to Vetted Causes
I do not understand what was Sinergia’s contribution to JBS’ commitment to only rely on the pre-implantation system in all new projects, @Vince Mak 🔸. JBS’ wording from 2021 already included “all our new projects”, just as the wording from 2023 did (see what I bolded below). What am I missing? In addition, I do not think you should have assumed all their 290 k sows (which you took from p. 20 here) transitioned to the pre-implantation system in 2023. The transition should take roughly as long as the lifetime of farms? For example, if farms have an expected lifetime of 10 years, and all new farms use a new system, I would expect it would take 10 years for all farms to be using the new system.
History behind the validation of JBS’s official policy
Sinergia started engaging with JBS and asking them to move towards the cobre e solta system in June 2020. JBS began discussing the implementation of the “cobre e solta” (pre-implantation) system in new facilities publicly in March 2021—first in a media article and later in a report published in 2021 and again in 2022. However, in none of these mentions did the company make it clear that this was a permanent commitment and 100% of the new facilities would adopt the “cobre e solta” system.
At the time, it was stated: “Currently, all our new projects follow the “cobre e solta” system [bolded my me, Vasco]. However, it was not made clear that this was a permanent company policy or a permanent commitment.
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Just as Sinergia consistently demands clarity and precision in cage-free egg commitments—ensuring that corporate language confirms policies are permanent, comprehensive, not partial, and apply to all facilities or the full supply chain—we applied the same rigorous standards in our engagement with pig producing companies in Brazil. Specifically, Sinergia requested that JBS explicitly include terms such as “100%” and/or “all farms” in its statements, and that this language be published as a formal, ongoing commitment on its public animal welfare policy page.
This request was first fulfilled in August 2023, when the Seara webpage was updated to state:
“The ‘cobre e solta’ system is implemented in all new projects [bolded by me, Vasco].”
I do not understand what was Sinergia’s contribution to JBS’ commitment to only rely on the pre-implantation system in all new projects, @Vince Mak 🔸. JBS’ wording from 2021 already included “all our new projects”, just as the wording from 2023 did (see what I bolded below). What am I missing? In addition, I do not think you should have assumed all their 290 k sows (which you took from p. 20 here) transitioned to the pre-implantation system in 2023. The transition should take roughly as long as the lifetime of farms? For example, if farms have an expected lifetime of 10 years, and all new farms use a new system, I would expect it would take 10 years for all farms to be using the new system.