Opinion: Veganism Can't Save Scotland
Photo by Stijn te Strake on Unsplash
Growing up on a farm, I should be the one who's met with clichés of sharpening pitchforks etc. But, in our modern climate-focused age, it is a beef farmers son’s natural enemy – the vegan - who could be said to be doing the above, especially when I pluck up enough courage to introduce myself anywhere north of Ayrshire.
However, I do not see why the farmer is the largest fiend when it comes to the climate as they only attribute 1% of the UK’s carbon footprint. If you take my family’s farm as an example, we should be your climate heroes! A farmer’s role in the world is to work with nature to grow and provide food, materials and by-products that are essential to everyday life. If you believe everything you read in the papers, you will be thinking the exact opposite.
On the near 300-acre expanse of our carbon-capturing eutopia, we have: more than 100 acres of newly-planted woodland, an abundance of sphagnum-moss laden peatland, solar panels, a biomass boiler, and livestock that help to keep the bio-diverse landscape ticking. Never falling below 600 feet above sea level, our farm is not full of rich, productive soils that can produce crops for human consumption. The same can be said for 85% of farmland in Scotland, considered to be a less-favoured area – a humbling title, I can assure you. In short, we do the best we can with what we have; every other farmer I know does the same, with “Ye kin oanly pish wi the cock ye’ve got,” being the favoured quote.
With 80% of Scotland covered in farmland, most of this being unsuitable for growing a vegan diet, and farmers, like my family, doing everything in their power to diversify and “go green”, what is the answer to our food-centric climate conundrum? As someone in the cow-hoove-shaped trenches, I must protest the plant-based propaganda and exclaim: “The Future ISNY Vegan,” not in Scotland anyway.
I am not just someone who is far too fond of a steak to see the opposing motion: I am open-minded and do my best to make the greenest choices I can. I am a realist, though. I cannot, and will not, be convinced that flying avocados thousands of miles to Scotland–which will have used thousands of litres of water, caused untold deforestation and destruction amongst other carbon-filled sins along the way AND killed its fair share of animals in doing so– is in any way better for our planet than local produce. Local being the keyword there, and locally, as above, we can grow 85% livestock-based food leaving 15% for crops. Our nation cannot sustain us all on 15% of our land.
Importing the majority of our food is not the answer, but importing some is unavoidable. Scotland currently supplies a mere 55% of what we eat, which is a staggeringly low percentage for a country so fertile and agriculturally dense. I think the answer should be an encouragement for more agriculture, more funding and research into improving efficiencies and, above all, stop battering the living daylights out of farmers in the media!
I am also not interested in being brandished with titles gained by other countries agriculture. I will not be told that I, or any of my neighbours, operate a "factory farm" – they exist in America, go bother them. The UK’s agriculture is one of the most efficient in the world, and the livestock is reared under some of the strictest welfare standards. I know each minute of our livestock’s lives; they happen right outside my windows – can you say the same for your food?
And don’t even get me started on the hot air that's spread about cow farts.
So, as I firmly nestle myself atop my wet, coo-poo covered, peaty hill, I prepare to die upon it. Bring all you want to the argument, but I sincerely cannot see the evil in what we do. My alternative for our nation's food is simple. Eat local Scottish food – which just happens to be meat – or move somewhere that grows the plants you need to sustain yourself if you can’t. It is for the good of the planet, after all.