| A | B | C | D | E | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cost-effectiveness for Sinergia's work for pigs (2023) | |||||
2 | • One of Sinergia's programs it to pressure corporations In the Global South (mostly Brazil) to commit to improving the welfare conditions on their farms. Each corporation makes different commitments depending on their circumstances, phasing out some combination of the 5 main types of piglet mutilation, and/or a reduction in the amount of time mother pigs spend confined in crates when pregnant. | |||||
3 | • This estimate of the cost-effectiveness of this program uses numbers shared by Sinergia on the public commitments made by companies they campaigned in 2023 and the associated campaign costs. | |||||
4 | • We make various adjustments to be more accurate and conservative, like sharing the credit for these commitments with other organizations involved in the campaigns, assuming not every company will follow through on the commitment, adding additional costs for past campaigning and future enforcement of commitments won in 2023 | |||||
5 | • We make one adjustment which increases the estimated cost-effectiveness: We count the benefits of commitments for multiple years, not just one. We assume that on average, companies would have otherwise phased out these practices 4 years later, and so we could 4 years of benefits | |||||
6 | ||||||
7 | Cost to help one animal | |||||
8 | Total pigs | Mothers ("sows") | Other pigs ("fattening pigs") | Source | ||
9 | Animals helped | |||||
10 | Number of pigs affected by corporate commitments won in 2023 each year | 23,165,880 | 584,130 | 22,581,750 | These numbers come our analysis of data shared by Sinergia Animal for the year 2023 | |
11 | Number spared from tooth clipping mutilations each year | 5,481,750 | 0 | 5,481,750 | ||
12 | Number spared from disbudding (i.e. tusk removal) mutilations each year | 1,022,700 | 0 | 1,022,700 | ||
13 | Number spared from castration without anesthetic each year | 6,429,525 | 0 | 6,429,525 | ||
14 | Number spared from ear notching without anesthetic each year | 13,159,050 | 0 | 13,159,050 | ||
15 | Number with sow stall "bans" i.e. use limited to max 7 days | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
16 | Number with "group housing" i.e. 35-42 days sow stall use | 847,635 | 847,635 | 0 | ||
17 | Assumed length of commitments | 4 | Used the same conservative assumption that Rethink Priorities used for corporate commitments for chickens (see Helping Poultry tab) | |||
18 | % credit to Sinergia for the commitment | 37% | Weighted average credit for each commitment. The credit allocated to Sinergia for each individual commitments was based on how many other organizations were involved in the campaign: We assumed that credit was split in proportion with the number of organizations involved. This is a harsh assumption as most of the other organizations who campaigned alongside Sinergia used more cooperative strategies: Sinergia being the one adversarial organization likely played a bigger role than (for example) the third 'good cop' organization involved in a campaign. | |||
19 | Follow through rate (on time) | 44% | Average of the follow through rate for cage-free and broiler commitments for chickens, according to Rethink Priorities report | |||
20 | Lifespan of factory farmed pig (years) | - | 1.75 | Not relevant | See page 3: https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/5235118/The-life-of-Pigs.pdf | |
21 | Expected number of pigs helped over the course of the commitment | 14,922,599 | 217,363 | 14,705,236 | Calculation. Because we have the number of sows living on farms at a time, we need to factor in their lifespan to know how many are farmed in the 4 years the commitment impacts. Piglets numbers on the other hand, are calculated from sow numbers based on the number of piglets born per sow each year, so lifespan isn't relevant. | |
22 | Cost | |||||
23 | Cost to Sinergia in 2023 | $146,414 | Sinergia Animal, 2023 | |||
24 | Additional cost in previous years needed to secure wins in 2023 (as a % of Sinergia's 2023 pig program costs) | 0.5x | Conservative assumption. This is especially conservative as realistically, some of the costs spent on 2023 won't yeild benefits until later years, and those benefits aren't being counted here (i.e. we're counting past costs, but not future benefits) | |||
25 | Additional cost to enforce commitments, borne by the charity sector (as a % of Sinergia's 2023 pig program costs) | 2.5x | Conservative assumption | |||
26 | Dollars to impact one animal | $0.039 | Calculation | |||
27 | ||||||
28 | Amount of suffering reduced per animal (depending on the change in conditions) | |||||
29 | • Estimates for how much each change helps pigs come from the Ambitious Impact research team (https://www.charityentrepreneurship.com/research), using their proprietary 'Suffering Adjusted Day' methodology. A Suffering Adjusted Day is a measurement of suffering that considers how bad the experience is, how long it lasts, and the likelihood and extent to which that animal is capable of experiencing suffering to begin with. We have used their proprietary SAD methodology to estimate the % reduction in suffering caused by each change to farming practices. | |||||
30 | • Both mother pigs (called "sows") and piglets raised for food (called "fattening pigs") must be farmed to produce pork. Therefore, to produce one pig worth of pork, a bit more than one pig must be farmed (because the mother sow must be farmed too). This is why the number of SADs involved in consuming one pig is more than the number of SADs experienced by one fattening pig in its life | |||||
31 | • In this calculation we figure out the average numbers of SADs reduced per pig Sinergia helps, and the number of SADs one needs to reduce to offset consuming one pig | |||||
32 | ||||||
33 | Per animal | |||||
34 | Sows | Fattening pigs | ||||
35 | Suffering Adjusted Days (SADs) in a typical life on a factory farm | 30.0 | 11.9 | |||
36 | % lifetime SADs reduced by.. | |||||
37 | Banning teeth clipping | 1% | 3% | |||
38 | Banning disbudding (i.e. removing tusks) | 1% | 3% | |||
39 | Banning castration | Not applicable | 2% | |||
40 | Banning ear notching | 0% | 1% | |||
41 | Reducing sow stall use to max 7 days | 23% | Not applicable | |||
42 | Group housing sows (max 35-42 days in stalls) | 18% | Not applicable | |||
43 | Number of SADs reduced by.. | |||||
44 | Banning teeth clipping | 0.33 | ||||
45 | Banning disbudding (i.e. removing tusks) | 0.33 | ||||
46 | Banning castration (considering % that are male) | - | 0.20 | |||
47 | Banning ear notching | 0.08 | ||||
48 | Reducing sow stall use to max 7 days | 7.03 | - | |||
49 | Group housing sows (max 35-42 days in stalls) | 5.26 | - | |||
50 | Weighted average reduction by Sinergia % | 25% | 2% | |||
51 | Weighted average reduction by Sinergia (SADs per animal) | 7.6 | 0.20 | |||
52 | 0.3 | |||||
53 | % alive at a time (based on ratio of mothers to childen) | 8% | 92% | |||
54 | SADs caused by consumption of 1 fattening pig | 14.5 | ||||
55 | Average SADs reduced per animal helped by Sinergia, as a % of the SADs caused by consumption of 1 pig | 2% | ||||
56 | ||||||