Robert Yaman
@robert_yaman
Techno-optimist for animals. Founder @AnimalInnovate, blog at http://optimistsbarn.substack.com. Not vegan. Oh, and I make music: https://spti.fi/zyq551N
Farm animal welfare is a serious moral challenge, but current solutions lack realism. Today I'm launching The Optimist's Barn - a new Substack that uses a techno-optimist's lens to flesh out how we can build a scalable, abundant agricultural system that also aligns with our…
Many things which do not at first appear to be technological problems are in fact technological problems
We tend to think of weight loss as an issue of morality or self-worth. Instead, it's just another technological problem to be solved. And we're now well on the way to solving it. noahpinion.blog/p/its-ok-not-t…
Thank you!
“Industrial agriculture may cause emissions, pollution, and poor animal welfare, but the more efficient agriculture is, the less of it we need.” @robert_yaman on @MikeGrunwald’s excellent new book.
Biotech news for the week: 1. In the U.S., ~350 million male chicks are thrown into a blender each year because they are of no use to the egg industry. In ovo sexing technology uses PCR or hyperspectral imaging to detect the sex of a chick inside the egg, so farmers can destroy…
In ovo sexing is one of the biotechnologies that I've long been most excited about. And now you can buy eggs from in ovo sexed hens in the U.S. This is a fantastic milestone for animal welfare.
In-ovo sexing is officially available to American consumers! This is a particularly high-leverage time for the technology since many other companies will be looking to see how these first eggs perform with consumers before deciding whether to adopt the tech themselves.
Glad to see progress on in-ovo sexing in the US. We have a long ways to go to catch up with Europe on this one though. x.com/Lewis_Bollard/…
Another US egg producer, Kipster, just rolled out in-ovo sexing tech to replace killing day-old male chicks. Well put by their CEO: "allowing chicks to hatch only to be immediately gassed or macerated — standard industry practice in the U.S. — is simply not an option for us."
Thank you! 🙏
A very good newsletter for those interests in animal welfare. open.substack.com/pub/optimistsb…