As advocates, we try to answer the question of how we can do the most good for farm animals. I think one of the most powerful forms of evidence we can look at, particularly in a space with such limited evidence, is what has and hasn't worked recently.

Over nearly four years, [the Open Philanthropy Project] has made over 160 grants, totalling almost $100 million for farm animal welfare. I'm going to share a few of the lessons that we've learned about:

Securing and implementing corporate reforms

I think we need to focus more on legislation to ensure that corporate pledges are enshrined into law. We need to push companies to publicly report [their progress on cage-free supply chains]. And third, in seeking these milestones, it's not enough to publicly report that you'll eventually reach 0%; companies need to report [the specific dates by when] they will reach [certain milestones].

The plant-based meat sector’s potential and obstacles

Chicken is going to be a much harder market to enter than beef. It's one thing to compete with beef. Competing with chicken is a different [matter], and chicken is, of course, where the vast majority of animals are in the supply chain.

We need to be able to convert feed into plant-based protein more efficiently than a broiler chicken does.

Where money goes in the movement — and where the animals are

First, money is growing in the movement, which is great. It’s still a lot less than we see in many other movements that are combating problems on a similar scale, but it’s an impressive level of resources.

Second, it's useful to know that there are about 25 billion land-based farm animals and about 55 billion farmed fish.

Third, we should focus on Asia, and we need to direct more resources there.

Read the full article about what we've learned in farm animal welfare by Lewis Bollard at Effective Altruism.