I strongly encourage everyone to consume less meat (because individual actions matter - the market is responsive/elastic and fewer animals will experience torture in the future if you purchase less animal products).
> "If someone gives up 1 lb of chicken, total consumption falls by 0.76lb in expectation."
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/fZp6Fpowmd5a8Lu2w/...
Directly: https://reducing-suffering.org/comments-on-compassion-by-the...
The mechanism is simple: if the stores are 100% responsive to your demand, your purchase directly affects supply. If they are not 100% perfect, they still have a mechanism through which they buy in bulk. So, roughly speaking, you might have a 1% chance of triggering a batch order for an extra 100 lbs when you purchase 1 lb of meat. And the same goes up the supply chain.
On the other hand, nearly all of the animal cruelty from factory farms stems from people buying meat from them. So if most people eat less meat, then factory farms actually will suffer.
It's great to hear there are still farms that care about animal welfare, but it's a challenge with a race-to-the-bottom where profits are inversely proportional with animal welfare.
Specifically, there is a greater incentive to make consumers think that the animals have good welfare, than to actually implement the better welfare. Unless we have mandatory web-cameras on all factories, you're just going on trust of people (who have all the immense financial incentives to lie).
I hope they continue to grow, that more people become more conscientious, and that regulations improve.