Vegan trend - all bad ? or maybe there are positives ?

[Clive]

Is the Vegan discussion all bad or can we take some positives from it ? ......, stay with me here !

Surely seeing our customers so interested in what they eat is a good thing ? These people clearly want to eat well and uk farmers have the best reputation in the world for higher quality and higher welfare produce so that’s a good fit for us in the longer term ...... especially post Brexit ?

We should be respectful of people’s choices even when we don’t agree with them, all we should demand in return is they are equally respectful of our choice to eat meat and dairy etc

Importantly I was told that 80% of vegans give up within 12 months so it’s really mostly just a fashion and like all fashions it will run its course maybe leaving a legacy of people at least a bit more connected and conscious of the food they eat ?

In the mean time as an industry we would be best to not get distracted with petty argument and not aleniate people / take an “aggressive” stance against veganisim ?

Discuss ! (Controversial I know !)

 

[JP1]

Is the Vegan discussion all bad or can we take some positives from it ? ......, stay with me here !

Surely seeing our customers so interested in what they eat is a good thing ? These people clearly want to eat well and uk farmers have the best reputation in the world for higher quality and higher welfare produce so that’s a good fit for us in the longer term ...... especially post Brexit ?

We should be respectful of people’s choices even when we don’t agree with them, all we should demand in return is they are equally respectful of our choice to eat meat and dairy etc

Importantly I was told that 80% of vegans give up within 12 months so it’s really mostly just a fashion and like all fashions it will run its course maybe leaving a legacy of people at least a bit more connected and conscious of the food they eat ?

In the mean time as an industry we would be best to not get distracted with petty argument and not aleniate people / take an “aggressive” stance against veganisim ?

Discuss ! (Contravercial I know !)

I'd discuss with anybody. The trouble is there is a hard core vegan agenda that has no interest in dialogue and it's spreading to the main stream media and now many "modern" folks think that a balanced omnivorous diet is almost anti-social. That's the danger.

How does this manifest itself? All sorts of ways including peer pressure on young kids to comply with their vociferous peers.

@Suffolk Serf 's column in this month's Pig World included his commentary on a trip to Denmark, ostensibly to take in Agromek but also including a tour above a pig processing abattoir in a full view glass catwalk. There was a proper tour set up showing school kids just where their food comes from.

I stupidly paid for a Facebook sponsored ad to one of my herd posts announcing my new Belted Galloway arrivals. I've had PM and direct Vegan campaign comments even one suggesting I could also eat my dog that had just been PTS.

I find it a bit like Brexit, you just can't have a rational discussion with a proportion even when you constantly say you respect their position.

My own view is it's now almost a perfect storm; the rewilders, the lack of love of pastoral Britian it's heritage and landscape, the global warming falsehoods, my local abattoir now not taking private kill lambs and the food miles. Hypocrites the lot of them who are happy to outsource their welfare and other considerations just so long as they don't see it

 

[onesiedale]

Is the Vegan discussion all bad or can we take some positives from it ? ......, stay with me here !

Surely seeing our customers so interested in what they eat is a good thing ? These people clearly want to eat well and uk farmers have the best reputation in the world for higher quality and higher welfare produce so that’s a good fit for us in the longer term ...... especially post Brexit ?

We should be respectful of people’s choices even when we don’t agree with them, all we should demand in return is they are equally respectful of our choice to eat meat and dairy etc

Importantly I was told that 80% of vegans give up within 12 months so it’s really mostly just a fashion and like all fashions it will run its course maybe leaving a legacy of people at least a bit more connected and conscious of the food they eat ?

In the mean time as an industry we would be best to not get distracted with petty argument and not aleniate people / take an “aggressive” stance against veganisim ?

Discuss ! (Contravercial I know !)

You have a good point Clive .
The vegan issue will not go away quickly. As far as the media is concerned it's an easy hook to bring a story out. This and climate change can probably give as good a platform as any to get the UK farming message across.
As @delilah has said, it's not too difficult to engage with the BBC, but it needs to be co-ordinated and consistently on-message.
I think we'd all like to see the communications teams at the NFU and AHDB stepping up their game which in turn will give us all more confidence, resources and enthusiasm to join the debate in a positive way

 

[Raider112]

Is the Vegan discussion all bad or can we take some positives from it ? ......, stay with me here !

Surely seeing our customers so interested in what they eat is a good thing ? These people clearly want to eat well and uk farmers have the best reputation in the world for higher quality and higher welfare produce so that’s a good fit for us in the longer term ...... especially post Brexit ?

We should be respectful of people’s choices even when we don’t agree with them, all we should demand in return is they are equally respectful of our choice to eat meat and dairy etc

Importantly I was told that 80% of vegans give up within 12 months so it’s really mostly just a fashion and like all fashions it will run its course maybe leaving a legacy of people at least a bit more connected and conscious of the food they eat ?

In the mean time as an industry we would be best to not get distracted with petty argument and not aleniate people / take an “aggressive” stance against veganisim ?

Discuss ! (Contravercial I know !)

If we take offence with someone's lifestyle choices we are as bad as them but while we know it's wrong to judge there are quite a lot of vegans who try to take over any light hearted subject with insults so sometimes it's either leave it out there as fact or reply to it. As farmers aren't the best at that we often come out of it looking badly, that is why we need a dedicated team who can shoot the nonsense down, therefore making them think twice about what they post.

 

[homefarm]

I agree with Clive.

Vegan is topic of the month to fill the empty news time over Xmas, do not worry MP's back next week.

It was the same with BSE, Princess Diana could remove it from the news overnight, but it was an argument we could not win.
NFU, MP's kids eating burgers, could not win against, it might possibily give your children brain damage in the future.

The vegan is anti death in any form, and debate just proves their point.

Keep quiet, food comes from Tesco's in lots of plastic ! This is good!

No company shows the sweat box their clothes and shoes are made in. Why do we need children to see round an abattoir?

Talk about reducing plastic . Change the subject and the vegans will be not news any more

 

[delilah]

Yes there have always been vegans, yes they should be respected for their dietary choices, and yes many lapse.

However, this time it is different. The argument being used now isn't just animal welfare, but climate change. A large proportion of the population, quite rightly, want to reduce their impact on the environment. That concern isn't going to go away, it is only going to increase. For the farming industry to remain silent will be seen by the general public as an admission of guilt. I am an environmentalist first and a livestock farmer second, and I expect the national bodies representing farmers to get out there now and fight the vegan arguments on the grounds they are using, both welfare and climate change. To ignore it is naive, it wont go away this time round.

 

[Yale]

Vegan,but mostly just when it suits.

Just fashionable vegetarians.

 

[Arceye]

One of the big problems is the NFU only reacts and replies to issues, they are seen as a rather old fashioned record stuck defending farmers on whatever is said. The vegans now don't have a vegan day, nor a vegan week but a vegan month! They have picked up the news about methane emissions and used it to legitimise their view as the only way forward, the way to save the planet and save mankind. As a beef farmer I read with trepidation about the destruction of the planet to produce beef, the rain forests being cut to make way for more beef cattle in South America. These things are being used against beef production which in turn affects my future. Whereas my beef cattle graze grass, eat silage and eat my barley and my beans, the only thing bought is minerals. Just how can this be bad? But apparently it is. We are seriously losing this battle. There seems to be no chance of the likes of the liberal left wing BBC will balance their news. I agree with Delilah, ignore it at our peril.

 

[homefarm]

The chances everyone turns vegan tomorrow is slim. Beef survived BSE but I think we will be encouraged to eat less in the future.

I think it will be a bit like electric cars replacing diesel, we will be given along time to adapt.

Climate change box ticking is not logical in laymans terms.

Coal fired Drax, the coal came up the shaft and into the power station, now it burns biofuel, wood pellets from around the world and every thing is transported in, is there really less CO2 emitted in the end.

Bio fuels Rapeseed to Diesel, Wheat to ethanol, is there a positive saving over the whole cycle.

Rhi payments, wasting heat to claim subsidy.

Makes eating less beef one of the more sensible options.

 

[Clive]

I’m Actualy thinking I might give it a try ! (Just for a month maybe as I like steak, bacon and chicken too much)

Not because I want to but just because I would like to understand it more ?

Mad ?

 

[Northeastfarmer]

I’m Actualy thinking I might give it a try ! (Just for a month maybe as I like steak, bacon and chicken too much)

Not because I want to but just because I would like to understand it more ?

Mad ?

It’ll be mad when the price of your wheat collapses because there’s no livestock farmers to buy it

 

[betweenthelines]

The Internet is ideal for vegans. Post whatever you want with no chance that anyone will argue with you.

Farmers know that you're never going to grow breadmaking wheat, Almonds or Avocado on most of the UK's grassland, but a Millennial living in London or Leeds, doesn't

The meat industry should create a "counter" group to use the Internet and other media to show the obvious flaws in most of the vegan claims

 

[Clive]

It’ll be mad when the price of your wheat collapses because there’s no livestock farmers to buy it

I’m not advocating it for a moment - just curious to understand it more and no better way than trying it I guess !

Someone whose tried it is surely better placed to argue against it from a position of knowlage ?

As in my first post is it really something to fear ?

 

[Northeastfarmer]

I’m not advocating it for a moment - just curious to understand it more and no better way than trying it I guess !

As in my first post is it really something to fear ?

I’d say it’s a massive fear of a livestock farmer

 

[Princess Pooper]

I’m Actualy thinking I might give it a try ! (Just for a month maybe as I like steak, bacon and chicken too much)

Not because I want to but just because I would like to understand it more ?

Mad ?

but it's a lifestyle not a diet. So are you going to bin your shoes, leather belts, any woollen clothes, as well examine every ingredient on all the food you eat and ask that your hosts supply a different food if you go round to friends for supper?

 

[Clive]

but it's a lifestyle not a diet. So are you going to bin your shoes, leather belts, any woollen clothes, as well examine every ingredient on all the food you eat and ask that your hosts supply a different food if you go round to friends for supper?

Maybe I could try for a month ? As said it would seriously increase my currently very limited understanding of this lifestyle !

Information is power they say ! And what better way to become informed ?

I could try do it scientifically maybe ? Get a detailed heath and fitness check before and after bloods etc ?

 

[Hilly]

Head down mouth shut passing phase 99% of them will get bored with it and look back in years to come and laugh at themselves , arguing just fuels their fire at the moment.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Maybe I could try for a month ? As said it would seriously increase my currently very limited understanding of this lifestyle !

Information is power they say ! And what better way to become informed ?

I could try do it scientifically maybe ? Get a detailed heath and fitness check before and after bloods etc ?

What’s to understand? You replace cows milk with nut milk and meat with veg

 

[Bury the Trash]

Vegan,but mostly just when it suits.

Just fashionable vegetarians.

could a passing thing in the young and impressionable
...its a trend that is sweeping the Universities atm.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I'd discuss with anybody. The trouble is there is a hard core vegan agenda that has no interest in dialogue and it's spreading to the main stream media and now many "modern" folks think that a balanced omnivorous diet is almost anti-social. That's the danger.

How does this manifest itself? All sorts of ways including peer pressure on young kids to comply with their vociferous peers.

@Suffolk Serf 's column in this month's Pig World included his commentary on a trip to Denmark, ostensibly to take in Agromek but also including a tour above a pig processing abattoir in a full view glass catwalk. There was a proper tour set up showing school kids just where their food comes from.

I stupidly paid for a Facebook sponsored ad to one of my herd posts announcing my new Belted Galloway arrivals. I've had PM and direct Vegan campaign comments even one suggesting I could also eat my dog that had just been PTS.

I find it a bit like Brexit, you just can't have a rational discussion with a proportion even when you constantly say you respect their position.

My own view is it's now almost a perfect storm; the rewilders, the lack of love of pastoral Britian it's heritage and landscape, the global warming falsehoods, my local abattoir now not taking private kill lambs and the food miles. Hypocrites the lot of them who are happy to outsource their welfare and other considerations just so long as they don't see it

You are wrong I spoke to them at length in Brighton dressed in their death suits protesting. I was polite and listed to what they had to say. I told them how I had farmered for most of my life . They were quite surprised when I told them I was a farmer . Love and peace . Not war war war