Farm animals: Better lives for the animals raised for our food, and help for the farmers who raise them.
America raised 9.4 billion chickens for meat in 2025. Changing how animals are raised can spare them a great deal of pain: moving hens out of cages cuts their most disabling pain by about 63%.
Ryan K. Hertel · heyitskenton
The problem
What we're up against.
Tens of billions of animals.
More than 75 billion land animals are raised for meat each year, about 70 billion of them chickens. Around three quarters of farmed land animals live on large indoor farms.
In America, nearly all of them.
About 99% of America's farmed animals live on what researchers call factory farms.
Hens in cages.
Of America's 319 million egg-laying hens, about 151.6 million are cage-free, which leaves about 167.4 million still in cages.
Sows in crates.
Many pregnant sows spend their pregnancy in crates of about 14 square feet, with room to stand and lie down but not to turn around. Farmers use them to keep sows from fighting and hurting each other.
Fast growth, at a cost.
Chickens bred to grow fast give us affordable, consistent meat, and the birds pay for it in welfare.
What works
Proven, and ready to grow.
Out of cages, less pain.
By modeled estimates, moving hens from battery cages to cage-free barns cuts their disabling pain by about 63%, hurtful pain by 57% and annoying pain by 70%. Europe's food safety agency recommends alternatives to cages too.
Cage-free can work for farmers.
Across 6,040 commercial flocks, cage-free hens died no more often than caged hens in recent years, and farms new to cage-free improved fastest.
Better lives for meat chickens.
The Better Chicken Commitment, with slower-growing breeds, cuts a chicken's disabling pain by about 66%, by modeled estimates. In a trial of 7,528 birds from 16 strains, the slower-growing strains didn't die more often.
Campaigns moved a whole industry.
America's cage-free flock was just under 17 million hens, 5.7% of all layers, at the start of 2016. Corporate campaigns affected an estimated 9 to 120 years of hens' lives for every dollar spent.
Most commitments kept, so far.
By advocates' count, 92% of cage-free egg commitments due by 2024 had been met.
What a family could fund
Where the money goes furthest.
A proven campaign group.
The Humane League runs corporate welfare campaigns. Animal Charity Evaluators says it could spend up to $28.7 million a year well in 2026 and 2027, and estimates its work helps about 11 hens and 46 meat chickens per dollar, though the figures are highly uncertain.
A shortlist with room to grow.
Animal Charity Evaluators recommends charities that have a demonstrated need for more funding. One of them, Shrimp Welfare Project, could put $3.6 million a year to good use.
Help for farmers who change.
There's a model for helping farmers change course: a North Carolina fund that began with small grants to tobacco farmers backed more than 600 farming projects with more than $6 million over 22 years, by its own count. Livestock transition grants are still tiny: one $15,000 grant helped an Iowa farmer move from raising pigs to growing vegetables and herbs.
More choices on the shelf.
Investment in alternative proteins fell to $881 million in 2025, by the Good Food Institute's count, so open research a family funds goes further.
A small field.
About $259 million a year goes to farmed animal advocacy, across 211 organizations, and just 3% of American giving to animal charities goes to farmed animals.
Honest limits
What money can't promise.
Promises slip.
Only 198 of the 415 cage-free commitments due in 2025 were met, and 50 businesses dropped their commitments entirely.
Cage-free isn't pain-free.
Cage-free hens still spend more than a third of the year in pain or discomfort, and how well they live depends on the farmer's experience.
The numbers are rough.
Estimates of what a dollar achieves look back at past campaigns, and aren't a promise for the next dollar.
Prices can rise.
After California's rules on space for hens, egg prices rose about 33% at first, easing to about 9%, and preliminary data show the price of covered pork in California rose about 20%.
Farmers carry the risk.
Egg producers report higher costs for cage-free barns, above all for buildings and labor, and contract chicken growers' incomes vary widely: the bottom fifth earn $170,871 less than the top fifth.
Hard questions
Asked and answered.
You might ask
Why animals, when people need help?
Ryan
This is one small slice of a blueprint that puts people first, and farmed animals get just 3% of American giving to animal charities. It touches people's health too: farm animals use about three times the antibiotics people do, and resistance in animals can spread to human health.
You might ask
Won't this raise food prices?
Ryan
Somewhat, especially at first: California's rules on space for hens raised egg prices about 33% before easing to about 9%. That's why this plan pairs better welfare with help for farmers' costs.
You might ask
Are you trying to make everyone vegan?
Ryan
No. This is about how animals are raised for the people who eat meat and eggs, with help for farmers who choose to change. The Better Chicken Commitment, for one, covers housing, space, growth rate and humane stunning.
In the slider
See what your fortune could do here.
Farm animals
The slider prices this cause with these numbers:
- Campaigns that win cage-free commitments from companies have spared hens from cages for about $0.80 a hen each year, by Rethink Priorities' most cautious estimate.
- The whole need here is America's egg-laying hens still in cages, about 167.4 million: our arithmetic from USDA's flock and cage-free counts.
- An average from past campaigns, not a promise for the next dollar, and cage-free isn't pain-free, though it cuts hens' worst pain sharply.
More of the Blueprint
Keep reading.
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Malaria: Preventable, curable, and still here.
Ending hunger
Ending hunger: Hunger is falling. Help it fall faster.
Homes for veterans
Homes for veterans: A home for every veteran.
Medical debt
Medical debt: Stop medical debt before it starts.
Clean water
Clean water: A safe glass of water, for everyone.
Cats
Cats: Fewer kittens born to the street.
Restoring sight
Restoring sight: Give people their sight back.
School meals
School meals: A meal that keeps a child in school.
National parks
National parks: Fix the parks America loves.
Child care
Child care: Care that lets parents work and children thrive.
Relief from pain
Relief from pain: Relief from pain, for everyone who needs it.
Solar for clinics
Solar for clinics: Reliable power for every clinic, so care never stops in the dark.
Rainforests
Rainforests: Keep the world's rainforests standing, with the people who live in them.
Endangered species
Endangered species: Second chances for the species we're about to lose.
Famine and malnutrition
Famine and malnutrition: Bring severely malnourished children back to health.
A voice for everyone
A voice for everyone: A voice for everyone who can't rely on their own.
Clubfoot and cleft lip
Clubfoot and cleft lip: Let every child walk, and smile.
Kids growing up online
Kids growing up online: Help kids grow up safe and well online.
Nurse visits for new parents
Nurse visits for new parents: A nurse at the door in a baby's first weeks.
Reading and math for every child
Reading and math for every child: Every child reading, and doing math, by age ten.
Sickle cell disease
Sickle cell disease: A long life with sickle cell disease, wherever a child is born.
Sources
Every number in this chapter, and where it came from.
Source 1: Poultry: Production and Value, 2025 Summary (opens in a new tab)
US Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, April 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.
Source 2: Do better cages or cage-free environments really improve the lives of hens? (opens in a new tab)
Our World in Data, 25 September 2023. Checked 16 October 2026.
Summarizing model-based estimates of hens' pain from the Welfare Footprint Project.
Source 3: How many animals are factory-farmed? (opens in a new tab)
Our World in Data, November 2024. Checked 16 October 2026.
A rough global estimate, by the author's own account.
Source 4: US Factory Farming Estimates (opens in a new tab)
Sentience Institute, 2 November 2024. Checked 16 October 2026.
From the USDA's 2022 Census of Agriculture and the EPA's definition of large feeding operations.
Source 5: Chickens and Eggs (opens in a new tab)
US Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 21 September 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.
The national flock on 1 September 2026.
Source 6: Monthly USDA Cage-Free Shell Egg Report (opens in a new tab)
US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, 1 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.
The cage-free flock on 1 October 2026.
Source 7: California Proposition 12: FAQs about Pigs (opens in a new tab)
UC Davis Center for Animal Welfare. Checked 16 October 2026.
Poultry Science, March 2021. Checked 16 October 2026.
A controlled trial at the University of Guelph.
Source 9: EFSA: alternatives to cages recommended to improve broiler and hen welfare (opens in a new tab)
European Food Safety Authority, 21 February 2023. Checked 16 October 2026.
Scientific Reports, 4 February 2021. Checked 16 October 2026.
Source 11: The Better Chicken Commitment (opens in a new tab)
Welfare Footprint Institute. Checked 16 October 2026.
Model-based estimates of how long chickens spend in pain.
Source 12: Corporate campaigns affect 9 to 120 years of chicken life per dollar spent (opens in a new tab)
Rethink Priorities, 9 August 2019. Checked 16 October 2026.
The slider uses the most cautious estimate, for past cage-free campaigns.
Source 13: Fulfillment Rate Jumps to 92% (opens in a new tab)
The Humane League, 5 August 2025. Checked 16 October 2026.
Advocates' own tracking. It counts companies, not hens.
Source 14: The Humane League (opens in a new tab)
Animal Charity Evaluators, 2025. Checked 16 October 2026.
Source 15: Recommended Charities (opens in a new tab)
Animal Charity Evaluators, 2025. Checked 16 October 2026.
Source 16: Shrimp Welfare Project (opens in a new tab)
Animal Charity Evaluators, 2025. Checked 16 October 2026.
Source 17: Grant Programs (opens in a new tab)
RAFI-USA. Checked 16 October 2026.
The organization's own account.
Source 18: 2025 Annual Report (opens in a new tab)
Mercy For Animals, July 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.
The organization's own report.
Source 19: Alternative protein investments (opens in a new tab)
Good Food Institute. Checked 16 October 2026.
The institute's own analysis.
Source 20: State of the Movement 2024 (opens in a new tab)
Stray Dog Institute. Checked 16 October 2026.
Source 21: Why Farmed Animals? (opens in a new tab)
Animal Charity Evaluators. Checked 16 October 2026.
Source 22: UK food companies lead cage-free egg transition as global deadlines slip (opens in a new tab)
New Food, 8 July 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.
Reporting Compassion in World Farming's EggTrack.
The Grocer, 8 July 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, April 2018. Checked 16 October 2026.
On California's earlier rules on space for hens.
Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, January 2024. Checked 16 October 2026.
A preliminary analysis by USDA economists.
Poultry Science, 22 August 2023. Checked 16 October 2026.
US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, 14 September 2022. Checked 16 October 2026.
Science, September 2019. Checked 16 October 2026.