Robert Yaman

One of the ways we've mitigated higher egg prices from bird flu is by ramping up egg imports - up over 600% since last year.

If the Trump admin is worried about trade deficits, this is the wrong direction to go!

No, Bird Flu Isn't Over Cases are about to spike again

Read more about what might happen with eggs this winter, and how we can prevent future price spikes while saving countless animals here:

optimistsbarn.substack.com/p/no-bird-fl...

Egg prices will probably spike this winter because of bird flu.

If that's giving you deja vu, there's good reason. It’s because every year we decide to do nothing about this entirely fixable problem—one that's killed tens of millions of birds and costs consumers billions.

The Gene-Editing Platform that Will Change How We Raise Chicken A spotlight on NextHen's Layers Laying Broilers technology

Full post here:

open.substack.com/pub/optimist...

In my new post, I chat with Dr. Yuval Cinnamon, who IMO is one of the foremost innovators in the poultry industry.

We discuss his Layers Laying Broilers technology, a way to use layer genetics for broiler production, making breeders that are more efficient and higher welfare.

The Climate Cost of Pre-Slaughter Mortality Let’s at least eat the livestock that we raise

Full post here:

optimistsbarn.substack.com/p/the-overlo...

Reducing mortality is a challenge particularly amenable to tech solutions. By giving farmers better tools to keep animals healthier, we can reduce feed waste and improve animal welfare in business friendly ways.

Mortality is also, obviously, a negative indicator of animal welfare.

Worryingly, pre-slaughter mortality has been increasing across every part of the meat sector over the last decade, for unknown reasons.

Every time a livestock animal gets sick and dies before slaughter, all the corn and soy it consumed is wasted. Every year 4.4 million tons of feed is wasted from livestock mortality, mostly from the chicken and pork industries.

The Optimist's Barn Podcast Podcast · Robert Yaman · A techno-optimist's lens on farm animal welfare. optimistsbarn.substack.com

Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/6S3vWNl...

Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Soon coming to other platforms as well

If you're like me and prefer to listen rather than read, you can now listen to The Optimist's Barn in podcast form!

In true techno-optimist fashion, I used @elevenlabs.io to create an AI voice clone and was super impressed by how well it worked and how easy it made the process.

Brazil Installs First In-Ovo Sexing Machine: Major Milestone for Latin American Egg Industry and In-Ovo Sexing — Innovate Animal Ag Agri Advanced Technologies (AAT) has partnered with Brazilian egg producer Raiar Orgânicos to implement the first ever in-ovo sexing machine in Latin America. AAT’s “Cheggy” in-ovo sexing system has b...

More here: innovateanimalag.org/blog/brazil-...

In-ovo sexing is now launched in Brazil, a first for the southern hemisphere!

Link here: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4463...

We're climbing up on Hacker News, let's get to the front page!

You Can Now Buy Eggs From In-Ovo Sexed Hens! Consumers now can vote with their wallets to support this new tech.

Full post here:
optimistsbarn.substack.com/p/you-can-no...

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.

Don't Demonize Efficiency in Animal Agriculture A review of We Are Eating the Earth, by Michael Grunwald

Wow, I love that @robertyaman.bsky.social’s review calls WE ARE EATING THE EARTH a “fantastic book,” but I especially love his unexpected animal-rights defense of my focus on industrial efficiency. He grappled with what I actually wrote! open.substack.com/pub/optimist...

Individuation is a Key Challenge in Animal Welfare Technology A single animal needs husbandry, a million animals need technology

optimistsbarn.substack.com/p/individuat...

New post about how humane farming for small animals will need to rely on technology, automation, and economies of scale to succeed. We can't just apply the pastoral models used for cows.

Progress Studies and Animal Welfare We have the intellectual tools needed to make progress on animal welfare

optimistsbarn.substack.com/p/progress-s...

New post on how to apply the principles of Progress Studies to animal welfare!

The Optimist's Barn 3x'ed it's subscriber growth rate last week. We're about to blow up!

Why is the US Chicken Meat Industry Getting Less Efficient? One of the big mysteries in animal agriculture is yet unexplained

optimistsbarn.substack.com/p/why-is-the...

We need more chickens to produce the same amount of meat than we did just a decade ago—why?

This is one of the big unsolved mysteries in animal agriculture. I investigate a few hypotheses in my most recent post on The Optimist's Barn:

What would such a husbandry system even look like? Check out my most recent post for some beginning sketches:

open.substack.com/pub/optimist...

- People may still want animal-derived products
- A husbandry system where animals have net-positive lives and other externalities are significantly mitigated will be technologically easier than lab-grown meat, and may even me morally preferrable.

I've heard many people assume that post-AGI lab-grown meat will become inevitable. I'm not so sure, for two reasons:

Bird Flu Vaccination Update, March 11, 2025 Discussion around vaccinating poultry for bird flu in the US is moving quickly

optimistsbarn.substack.com/p/bird-flu-v...

Read about what the escalating trade wars and a new Dutch vaccine trial might mean for a potential US bird flu vaccination campaign: