Countering veganuary 2020

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
Blimey ... in today’s Times

4085E096-2921-4471-BE97-982EE9D4009F.jpeg
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
Red meat sales hit as 800,000 people go vegetarian
3.6 million fewer animals eaten in the first six months of 2019
new
Ben Webster, Environment Editor
January 1 2020, 6:00pm, The Times
Sales of meat-free alternatives rose by 18 per cent last year

Sales of meat-free alternatives rose by 18 per cent last yearALAMY
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More than 800,000 people gave up animal products for at least a month last year, contributing to a steep fall in sales of red meat, research shows.
People switching to a plant-based diet for the first time consumed 3.6 million fewer animals in the first six months of 2019, according to analysis by the charity Veganuary of research it commissioned from the consultancy Kantar.
Sales of red meat fell more than any other category by value in supermarkets last year, down by £185 million, according to separate research by Neilson. Beef sales declined by 4 per cent and pork by 6.4 per cent.
Sales of meat-free alternatives rose by 18 per cent to £405 million, the highest percentage growth of any category. Some consumers switched to eating more poultry and fish, which are often perceived to be healthier, with sales up 1.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at Nielsen, told The Grocer: “2019 has seen a rise in meat-free and free-from categories as consumers become more health and environmentally conscious and veganism hits the mainstream.”

A total of 832,000 people in the UK gave up some animal products for the first time in January 2019, according to the Kantar research, which was based on tracking purchases of 30,000 households.
When questioned six months later, more than half (57 per cent) said that they still avoided the same products. While the remainder had gone back to eating animal products, three quarters said that they were eating less of them than before.
Over the six months, people newly avoiding or reducing meat, fish and dairy ate a total of 4,453 fewer tonnes of animal products compared with the same six months in 2018. Veganuary calculated that they ate about 2,450 fewer cows, 8,600 fewer lambs, 13,900 fewer pigs, 970,000 fewer chickens and 2.6 million fewer fish.
Wanting to be healthier was the most popular reason for giving up animal products, mentioned by 55 per cent of people as one of the main factors influencing their decision. Concern for animal welfare was mentioned by 49 per cent and protecting the environment by 30 per cent.
A diet high in red meat has a much bigger environmental footprint than one based on plants, with research showing beef generates at least six times the greenhouse gas emissions per kilo of protein as soya beans.
Red meat also requires 28 times more land to produce than chicken and is one of the main drivers of deforestation in the Amazon.
About two thirds of those giving up animal products were female and one third male.
Stuart Roberts, vice-chairman of the National Farmers’ Union, said that livestock farmers may have to respond to the decline in red meat consumption by exporting more of what they produced.
Mr Roberts, who primarily farms cereals but has a small beef herd on his farm in Hertfordshire, said that meat consumption was forecast to continue rising globally over the next 20 to 30 years and it was better for the environment to produce it in Britain than in countries where forests were being destroyed to convert land for grazing.
“Everyone has a right to choose whatever diet they desire,” he said. “What frustrates me in this debate is that people make dietary choices thinking that just because you choose a plant product over a meat product it is more sustainable and healthy when actually with all categories, meat or plant, there are products that are more sustainable or less sustainable.
“Some highly processed alternatives to meat use large volumes of soya from deforested parts of the world or have a very high salt content.
“People should look behind the label, whether that be a meat product or a plant-based one.”
He added: “It may be that markets for the product we produce change slightly so we may look to export more product. If the world is going to eat more meat they ought to be choosing it from the most sustainable parts of the world for producing it and the UK has some of the most sustainable production systems.”
 

delilah

Member
Stuart Roberts, vice-chairman of the National Farmers’ Union, said that livestock farmers may have to respond to the decline in red meat consumption by exporting more of what they produced.

Well, there's a typically joined up, positive attitude from the NFU:
Admit defeat to the phoney environmental claims of the vegan extremists, and add to the real problem - fossil fuel use through transportation - by seeing increased exports as the way forward. How, exactly, does that build alliances with the mainstream environmental movement which is increasingly open to the suggestion that developing local food networks is the way to address the environmental challenges facing our food system ?

Interesting as it is to read all these posts about the vegan message, the point of the OP was to encourage folks to do something positive to promote the UK livestock industry as being part of the solution. It would be great to hear of any success people have in getting the press release covered by their local paper or social media. Ref the above article, could someone who takes The Times send it to Ben Webster ?
 
Location
southwest
Red meat sales hit as 800,000 people go vegetarian
3.6 million fewer animals eaten in the first six months of 2019
new
Ben Webster, Environment Editor
January 1 2020, 6:00pm, The Times
Sales of meat-free alternatives rose by 18 per cent last year

Sales of meat-free alternatives rose by 18 per cent last yearALAMY
Share
Save
More than 800,000 people gave up animal products for at least a month last year, contributing to a steep fall in sales of red meat, research shows.
People switching to a plant-based diet for the first time consumed 3.6 million fewer animals in the first six months of 2019, according to analysis by the charity Veganuary of research it commissioned from the consultancy Kantar.
Sales of red meat fell more than any other category by value in supermarkets last year, down by £185 million, according to separate research by Neilson. Beef sales declined by 4 per cent and pork by 6.4 per cent.
Sales of meat-free alternatives rose by 18 per cent to £405 million, the highest percentage growth of any category. Some consumers switched to eating more poultry and fish, which are often perceived to be healthier, with sales up 1.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.
Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at Nielsen, told The Grocer: “2019 has seen a rise in meat-free and free-from categories as consumers become more health and environmentally conscious and veganism hits the mainstream.”

A total of 832,000 people in the UK gave up some animal products for the first time in January 2019, according to the Kantar research, which was based on tracking purchases of 30,000 households.
When questioned six months later, more than half (57 per cent) said that they still avoided the same products. While the remainder had gone back to eating animal products, three quarters said that they were eating less of them than before.
Over the six months, people newly avoiding or reducing meat, fish and dairy ate a total of 4,453 fewer tonnes of animal products compared with the same six months in 2018. Veganuary calculated that they ate about 2,450 fewer cows, 8,600 fewer lambs, 13,900 fewer pigs, 970,000 fewer chickens and 2.6 million fewer fish.
Wanting to be healthier was the most popular reason for giving up animal products, mentioned by 55 per cent of people as one of the main factors influencing their decision. Concern for animal welfare was mentioned by 49 per cent and protecting the environment by 30 per cent.
A diet high in red meat has a much bigger environmental footprint than one based on plants, with research showing beef generates at least six times the greenhouse gas emissions per kilo of protein as soya beans.
Red meat also requires 28 times more land to produce than chicken and is one of the main drivers of deforestation in the Amazon.
About two thirds of those giving up animal products were female and one third male.
Stuart Roberts, vice-chairman of the National Farmers’ Union, said that livestock farmers may have to respond to the decline in red meat consumption by exporting more of what they produced.
Mr Roberts, who primarily farms cereals but has a small beef herd on his farm in Hertfordshire, said that meat consumption was forecast to continue rising globally over the next 20 to 30 years and it was better for the environment to produce it in Britain than in countries where forests were being destroyed to convert land for grazing.
“Everyone has a right to choose whatever diet they desire,” he said. “What frustrates me in this debate is that people make dietary choices thinking that just because you choose a plant product over a meat product it is more sustainable and healthy when actually with all categories, meat or plant, there are products that are more sustainable or less sustainable.
“Some highly processed alternatives to meat use large volumes of soya from deforested parts of the world or have a very high salt content.
“People should look behind the label, whether that be a meat product or a plant-based one.”
He added: “It may be that markets for the product we produce change slightly so we may look to export more product. If the world is going to eat more meat they ought to be choosing it from the most sustainable parts of the world for producing it and the UK has some of the most sustainable production systems.”

Incredibly misleading headline as the reality was that about 1 in 100 households were surveyed and of those, about half cut back on some meat products. And, of course all this "research" is by the organisation pushing veganuary or is paid for by them. And focuses on Supermarket sales, no doubt in highly urban locations, thereby ignoring the possibility that people are moving away from supermarkets in search of better quality meats
 

Doc

Member
Livestock Farmer
I put this on another thread.
Worth listening to for some researched facts’n’figures.

 

upnortheast

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northumberland
As I wrote on another thread, - Asking a butcher customer of ours if this was hitting her trade, Having a cracking January, she says, Folk are taking exception to constantly being lectured on what they should eat & coming in for a nice bit of meat.
&
On Look North a couple of weeks ago a reporter went onto the streets of Tyneside with some Greggs vegan "steak" bakes. The first 3 blokes interviewed told him exactly what to do with it. Eventually found an aneamic looking woman who thought it was nice
 

FIL46

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
I don't worry to much about the hole thing as give it few years of green munching and they will have all sorts of problems with health due to diet and will be back on the good stuff or in a box 6 feet under and not causings us any problems no more
 

thorpe

Member
posted on another thread can we get somthing going to combat veganism starting with meaty march .whats happened to promotion? slam in the lamb, beefy botham, and the best one people have been giving beef a roasting! now its your turn
 

jondear

Member
Location
Devon
Taking a look a Greta Thunburgh yesterday in Davos she doesn't look very well on that vegan diet.I feel sorry for her that's she's being used as a puppet !
 
I caught the end of a tv programme this week on channel 4 I think about vegans. I just don't get it...

hypothetically speaking - all vegans want everyone else to also be vegan. So assuming one day, over night the entire world turn vegan. What do we do with all the animals that we have? There seem to be two options, neither of which make sense. We would either have to kill all animals - sheep, cows, pigs, chicken etc, but that goes totally against what vegans stand for, or we keep all the animals as they are. But that means they will continue to breed. The more they breed, as we can't cull them, then we start risking inter breeding, this will be bad for animal welfare. We then end up overstocking fields, so that means more transportation of live stock to other fields, that then increases our carbon footprint, and also has an impact on animal welfare. The fields continue to be overgrazed as we can't control breeding, so that affects soil fertility, that means more man made fertiliser, and the factories to produce it, again have a negative impact on our carbon footprint.

then we come to the eggs - not really sure the vegan argument about this, but I assume its because you are preventing a chicken been born. But then the same should go for plants and veg - when we take the fruit it prevents the plants from producing seed. So surely the same applies.

surely campaigning for higher welfare meat is what we should all be doing, stopping eating it alltoghther and any associated products won't be of any help to anyone.
 

Cowgirl

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Ayrshire
I caught the end of a tv programme this week on channel 4 I think about vegans. I just don't get it...

hypothetically speaking - all vegans want everyone else to also be vegan. So assuming one day, over night the entire world turn vegan. What do we do with all the animals that we have? There seem to be two options, neither of which make sense. We would either have to kill all animals - sheep, cows, pigs, chicken etc, but that goes totally against what vegans stand for, or we keep all the animals as they are. But that means they will continue to breed. The more they breed, as we can't cull them, then we start risking inter breeding, this will be bad for animal welfare. We then end up overstocking fields, so that means more transportation of live stock to other fields, that then increases our carbon footprint, and also has an impact on animal welfare. The fields continue to be overgrazed as we can't control breeding, so that affects soil fertility, that means more man made fertiliser, and the factories to produce it, again have a negative impact on our carbon footprint.

then we come to the eggs - not really sure the vegan argument about this, but I assume its because you are preventing a chicken been born. But then the same should go for plants and veg - when we take the fruit it prevents the plants from producing seed. So surely the same applies.

surely campaigning for higher welfare meat is what we should all be doing, stopping eating it alltoghther and any associated products won't be of any help to anyone.
I have asked this of vegans but the answer appears to be that because it won’t happen overnight (too inconvenient), farmers will gradually stop breeding animals so they become slowly extinct - at least that’s what I have been told. So we’re going to sort it for them in other words. :unsure:
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.1%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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