The effective altruism movement applies evidence and reasoning to maximize welfare impact. Animal welfare is a central priority given the scale of farmed animal suffering and tractability of interventions.
Effective altruism has significantly shaped modern animal welfare philanthropy by applying rigorous analysis to identify high-impact opportunities. The scale of farmed animal suffering — tens of billions of land animals and potentially trillions of aquatic animals annually — combined with the tractability of interventions like corporate welfare campaigns makes animal welfare one of the most cost-effective causes available. Corporate campaign successes in getting major food companies to adopt higher welfare standards demonstrate that relatively small advocacy investments can produce policy changes affecting billions of animals. Cause prioritization analysis suggests that people who care about reducing suffering should seriously consider directing significant resources toward animal welfare.