Fighting for Farmed Animals: How Campaigners Confront the System

Challenging the food industry means taking on companies with enormous resources and influence. So how can small groups of determined campaigners create meaningful change?

Sinergia Animal — Street action calling Ramo to go cage-free in Colombia

Fighting for Farmed Animals: Campaigning on the Shoulders of Giants, edited by animal advocate Amy Odene, explores this question through the first-hand stories of individuals who have confronted the industry, overcome setbacks and found new ways to fight for animals.

“This collection of stories focuses on this specific fight… against corporate greed and the now unrecognisable ‘farms’ that are a far cry from the idyllic green pastures that feature on the packaging. The farmed animal advocacy movement is an intricate ecosystem built around many complementary theories of change... Whilst the day to day approaches differ, the relentless drive to advocate on behalf of animals who cannot stand up for themselves is the flame that unites everyone in this movement. “

Amy Odene was inspired to edit this book after hearing campaigners talk of their struggles, animal advocacy strategies and their victories:

“We know that the industry is powerful; their marketing and lobbying budgets vastly outscale our entire global funding. The odds are not in our favour and yet, history has shown us that we have the power to bring these giants down.

The book is such a unique resource, there are 25 stories from all over the world.. from many different activists who started in different roles and have worked their way into what they think is the most impactful work they can do for animals”

It is a collection of personal stories from activists who have found bold ways to create change.

One of those stories is of Carolina Galvani, founder and Executive Director of Sinergia Animal.

Daring to Confront Power: The Story Behind Sinergia Animal

Carolina grew up in Brazil surrounded by cattle farms. Her childhood image of animal agriculture was one of cows roaming freely across green pastures.

Her journey as an animal advocate began working as an investigative journalist, where she witnessed the reality of factory farming conditions in Europe.

“At a pig farm, I saw massive animals with human-like eyes trapped in cages too small to move. They screamed, bit the bars, and were clearly agitated. My colleagues asked me to distract workers while they filmed a sow eating her own piglets - a horrific result of stress and frustration. The smell, the screams, and the scene felt like a horror movie. The animals were suffering, and the workers looked sick.” Carolina Galvani.

As an investigator for over a decade, she saw so many things that deeply shocked her, calves confined in tiny crates and separated from their mothers, animals slaughtered with no stunning, the damage caused by industrial fishing, widescale pollution linked to pig farming, forests being cleared for soy, and hens suffering in intensive egg production, “featherless birds looked at me with sad eyes. The farm owner proudly explained they were starving because they had been subjected to “forced molting” to keep producing more and more eggs” .

The work took an enormous emotional toll, but also sharpened her sense of purpose.

From Anger to Action

Carolina was particularly drawn to a strategy focused on animals who suffer in the greatest numbers and under the worst conditions, securing corporate reforms that could reduce suffering for millions of animals without having to wait for slow legislative processes.

The idea for Sinergia Animal began to take shape.

She believed that organisations led by people from the Global South could play an important role in developing animal advocacy in regions that had historically received less attention;

“Having an organization operating in Global South countries, and led by people from the Global South, is a powerful idea. It reduces the risk of unintentionally colonialist approaches and allows for deeper understanding.”

— Carolina Galvani

Starting Small and Thinking Big

In 2017, Sinergia Animal was born with a clear mission: to run brave pressure campaigns for corporate reforms that reduce animal suffering in countries of the Global South.

The team was tiny. Resources were scarce. Carolina recruited people through Facebook animal protection groups. Campaigns were organised across borders, often with only two to four people involved.

Cage-Free Eggs

Even with these limited resources in Sinergia Animal’s first year, the organisation helped secure 13 corporate policies banning cages for hens used in the egg industry in Argentina, Chile and Colombia.

Confronting Power

Campaigning against major corporations inevitably brought resistance.

One revealing early moment in Sinergia Animal came after a tense negotiation with a major restaurant chain in Colombia. The company's manager reacted angrily when Carolina explained that Sinergia could launch a public campaign around problems in the company's supply chain.

She left the meeting feeling this was the start of a long, tough campaign, but to her surprise, very quickly, the company agreed to the cage-free policy Sinergia had demanded. And the story kept repeating itself.

The lesson was that powerful companies can be challenged, that campaigners should not be put off by intimidating reactions from companies, sometimes it’s a sign it’s time to push a little harder…

The courage to think beyond borders

The next step was ambitious: taking the model beyond Latin America. In 2019, Sinergia explored expansion into Southeast Asia. Carolina wasn’t sure how she would achieve her goal, but she started work rather than waiting until she had every answer. She spent months in Indonesia and Thailand, meeting potential partners, learning about the local context, and recruiting the first Asian Sinergiers.

Within less than a year, Sinergia helped secure cage-free commitments from major companies including Tesco Lotus and Subway across several Asian markets.

A dream that had once seemed wildly ambitious was becoming a reality.

What the story teaches us

This is a movement with so much potential to grow, as Amy Odene explains,

“There is no power struggle in this space, like in the corporate world, our giants will give you a warm hug, offload all of their trade secrets and then allow you to climb onto their shoulders to get a better vantage point - anything for the animals.”

Carolina's chapter shows us that campaigning for animals is about building strong organisations and supporting individuals capable of continuing the difficult work,

“When I look back at those first years, I don’t just remember sleepless nights or hostile meetings. I remember people daring to dream together. Activism is never only about the battles outside; it is also about the ones inside us. We carry anger and doubt, yet we learn resilience. We laugh in the middle of chaos, and keep our hearts soft in a world that wants to harden them.

The greatest lesson is the one I still share with my team nowadays: change begins with believing the impossible is possible.” Carolina Galvani.

We are proud to see Sinergia Animal included in Fighting for Farmed Animals: Campaigning on the Shoulders of Giants.

“I hope that current members of the movement find this as a source of inspiration when you’re having difficult moments, getting a lot of pushback, if you’re feeling burnt out or down, use this as a resource to lift your spirits and to remind yourself why we’re here and what we’re all working towards.” Amy Odene

And we hope Carolina's story inspires many more people to dare to confront power in order to build a more compassionate food system.

Five lessons from successful campaigners

1. Dare to think bigger than your current resources.
You don't need a large organisation to begin. Sinergia started with a tiny team and very limited resources, but its ambition was always much larger than its immediate capacity.

2. Be willing to improvise.
Not every campaign will begin with perfect planning, a huge budget or hundreds of activists. Sometimes you have to work with what you have, and learn as you go.

3. Don't confuse opposition with failure.
Powerful opponents may push back, criticise or threaten legal action. That reaction does not necessarily mean a campaign is failing. Stay focused on your objective and know why your strategy matters.

4. Build people, not just campaigns.
Victories matter, but so do the communities behind them. Activists, volunteers, colleagues and partners create the resilience that allows movements to keep going.

5. Protect your humanity.
Animal advocacy can expose us to enormous suffering. Anger can motivate action, but it cannot carry us forever. Sustainable activism requires space for reflection, connection, humour,

Fighting for Farmed Animals: How Campaigners Confront the System.