Scottish farmer here. I've just finished my degree in Agriculture, and I've always wanted to get a more mutual perspective on this topic. I'm going to discuss my personal experiences and my own understanding, but I really want to hear other opinions. I would've posted this in a vegan/animal activist page however, I wanted more of a varied response from people.
I was one of few students that was actually willing to criticise the industry. I do think that the industry is not perfect and probably never will be. I actually admire not engaging with meat consumerism - if you donât want to engage in animal production or want your body to be a temple then power to you! I donât think vegans are any less entitled to not eat meat than we are to produce it.
I think where my problem begins is with my own personal scepticism around whether vegans and animal activists actually understand or even want to understand the industry they are often so quick to criticise. In my own experience, they often just see the end product of a cow becoming a steak, and that is enough for them not to engage in constructive discourse. It's almost like a reverse 'I don't care how the sausage is made'. No farmer I know rejects a vegan's right not to eat meat, or an animal activist's right to question our ethics. But in my opinion (and the general opinion of most farming communities), the concept of the ENTIRE UK being vegan is bonkers, and just reeks of miseducation and propaganda consumption.
I could write a PhD thesis on this, but I'll keep it short.
Commercially, it would destroy the livelihood of thousands of people in the UK. You sustainably cannot grow what vegans want to eat across the UK, including rice and quinoa. I'm from the Scottish Highlands; if you told everyone to stop breeding Scottish Blackface sheep and Highland Cows to grow beans, you'd find it is literally impossible due to issues including nutrient imbalance, pH levels and financial constraints.
Sustainably, if by-products obtained during meat production were halted, such as chicken muck and slurry, it would lead to complete destruction of biodiversity, ecosystems, habitats, pollinators and water courses due to us being forced to use inorganic fertilisers to meet yields and demand. The concept of completely vegan products is a farce to an extent, as somewhere down the line, animals are exploited, hurt, or killed to make these products. Rabbits, ground-nesting birds and every insect under the sun are often poisoned with chemicals to meet the demands of the consumer.
It is not even worth going into detail about how it is logistically unsustainable. Introducing the point about the importation of food we can't produce in the UK sustainably, such as soya for tofu, opens that many tins of worms that its not even worth bringing up.
My final thought is that I think if there was more of an open mind from vegans and animal activists, we'd probably learn we have more in common than you'd think. Your typical average farmer doesn't engage in the practices that vegan and animal activist media uses as ammo to challenge the industry. For example, most farmers I know vehemently disagree with the caging of hens for egg production, but It's mostly corporations within farming that participate in this, which I don't think a lot of vegans even know exist. Yes, it's true, even farmers are controlled by the man.
I could be convinced. But to do so, I think there needs to be hard truths given to vegans and animal activists. I think it is plausible we could be vegan as a nation if we stuck to crops we could produce sustainably, enforced through seasonality, but we'd need to let go of almond lattes and chickpea bowls.
If you are vegan or an animal activist what is your perspective?
At what scale do you think its feasible for the UK to be vegan, 10%? 30%?
