This article explores the complex relationship between meat consumption, animal welfare, and the costs associated with improving living conditions for farm animals. It discusses the current state of animal farming, the implications of consumer choices, and how small price increases can lead to significant improvements in animal welfare.
This is not an anti-meat video. We’ve all heard the arguments against meat, and yet in the EU and US, only between 1 and 6% of people don’t eat it. Meat is just too tasty, convenient, and ingrained in our culture for most of us to consider giving it up. At the same time, we love animals. Most of us have pets and believe in animal rights. Few things make the internet as angry as animal cruelty. Both are true: we love meat, and we love animals.
Unfortunately, most animals we eat live in truly horrible conditions. We don’t torture them for fun, but because it makes meat just a little bit more incredibly cheap. If we all paid just a tad more, we could avoid most animal suffering – often just for a few pennies per meal.
Farming is complicated. Many farmers are genuinely trying to give their animals the best life possible, but they are trapped in a complex system with extreme market pressure to keep prices low. No two countries have the same standards, no two farms are equal, and solid data is often scarce. To simplify, we will classify farming practices into three broad groups: decent, prisons, and torture camps.
So fellow omnivores: What would it cost us to avoid animal torture and still have our fried chicken?
At any given time, there are about 26 billion chickens alive on Earth – as many as all other birds combined. Chickens seem dumb, but they are social, can communicate, solve problems, and feel empathy. Yet, we keep the vast majority in insane torture.
Worldwide, about 90% of laying hens live in torture camps – crammed in extremely tight cages where they can barely move. They are unable to show any natural chicken behavior like nesting, roosting, foraging, or pecking at the ground, leading to frustration and injury.
In the US and Europe, legal bans and consumer initiatives have improved the situation, but still, more than 50% of hens remain in cages. The insane thing is that this doesn’t even save a lot of money. For example, a dozen eggs costs around 3.60 euros or dollars – 30 cents per egg.
The main alternative to cages is 'barn systems', where hens have twice as much space but are still kept indoors. This increases the consumer price by about 2 cents per egg. The somewhat decent alternative is 'free range', where hens are allowed outdoors, increasing the price by about 7 cents per egg.
One of the cruellest practices is chick culling, where male chicks are killed right after birth, usually by gassing or grinding. This practice is widespread, with 7 billion baby chickens killed each year. In some countries, early scanning of breeding eggs has been implemented to prevent this, increasing costs by only 2 to 5 cents per egg.
Most meat chickens today are bred to reach amazing weights incredibly fast, causing them pain and suffering. If farmers switched to breeds that grow slower, a serving of chicken breast would only become 9 cents more expensive. Currently, 90% of meat chickens in the EU live in prisons or torture camps.
Pigs are intelligent, social, and playful animals, yet more than 90% live in torture camps. They spend their lives indoors in crowded spaces, often on concrete floors without bedding. Mothers are kept in 'crates' where they can’t move, leading to extreme suffering.
Improving conditions for pigs could raise the cost of a 2 euro serving of pork by about 20 cents. Providing more space and bedding would increase the price by another 20 cents. Giving pigs outdoor access would raise the price by another 80 cents.
Cows raised for meat generally have better lives, spending about two-thirds of their lives outdoors. However, the majority spend their last months in feedlots, either prisons or torture camps. Less than 5% of beef cattle in the US have lifelong access to outdoor pasture. Improving their conditions could increase the price of beef by around 15%.
Dairy cows often suffer from pain due to standing on concrete and are kept indoors for most of the year. Outdoor pasture increases the price of milk by about 10 cents per liter.
Meat has gotten so cheap that we have to torture animals to keep prices low. Food in developed countries is the cheapest it has been in history. In the US, an average person spends 337 dollars a month on food, with 88 dollars on meat, eggs, and dairy. If these prices increased by 50%, it would only bring monthly food expenditure back to what it was in 1987.
In Germany, a similar increase would raise the monthly cost from 70 euros to about 100 euros. A significant portion of meat purchased is thrown away, indicating that meat has become so cheap that it often loses its perceived value.
As consumers, we can influence the market. If you don’t want to buy torture meat, look at the labels on holding conditions. If there is no label, it is likely torture meat. The label situation can be confusing, with some labels being misleading.
If you can afford it, buy organic or research local farms for better practices. One exception worth mentioning is mussels, which are environmentally beneficial and have minimal pain perception.
You don’t need to be vegan to think the current situation is unacceptable. The conditions of most animals we eat are hard to stomach and could be improved if we paid more for meat. Things are slowly getting better, and consumers can push the industry in the right direction by being willing to pay more. If you can’t afford this, consider eating less meat and advocating for better policies. With informed choices, we can help make the lives of billions of animals dramatically better.
