Page 132 - Vegan Life - Issue 59 (February 2020)

It’s not just animals

– it’s not our either

land,

Jake Yapp looks into the debate around grazing

feel like there’s been quite a strong manure from them replenishes the soil, anything from growing more than about
backlash against vegans in the press and we all know the degradation of soil is a centimetre high. So much for rewilding.
I tely. For years, we were just the pretty serious, guys. Some regale readers That landscape is not a ‘natural’ or
la
hilarious, marginal cranks that could be with anecdotes about rewilding their balanced landscape. Many people
a source of much derision. Even then, farms and just how marvellous it is. No are fighting to protect what remains
we had limited value for derision, since antibiotics! (Hardly). Happy cows! Such of ‘The Caledonian Rainforest’ — the
hardly anybody knew a vegan. TASTY MEAT. So, guys — a little bit of meat ancient woodland that used to cover the
But with vegan numbers increasing might save the planet, mmmkay? Great mountains and valleys. Grazing animals
exponentially, I feel like a lot of more chat, guys. — far from replenishing the soil — are
traditionally-minded people are now But there’s a problem with this. eating everything in sight.
tired of the novelty of buying their Well, several. If there’s another thing on which
youngest, Daisy, packs of Violife in Tesco, I understand that owners of vast tracts pretty much everyone agrees, it’s
and having to deal with the sneaking of land not suited to crop production that we need as many trees as we can
suspicion that, dammit, Daisy might Have want to make some money out of it. Just get, sequestering carbon and giving
A Point With All This Vegan Business. as I understand that dairy farmers want everybody the slimmest chance of
The people I do have some sympathy to make money out of their cows. But surviving the next 100 years.
with are farmers. It’s easy to demonise needing to make money isn’t a moral Grazing animals is not the answer.
the people who are at the sharp end justification for what you’re doing. Most It’s a terrible idea. I’m not saying there
of animal commodification, but, be vegans would probably agree that, in should be no grazing animals, but I am
honest — it’s a lot easier to go vegan principle, the idea of ‘owning’ an animal saying that to have them in any kind of
than it is to figure out what to do with is a bit wrong. One might look ater an numbers as to make it commercially
all your money sewn up in the animal animal, or co-habit with a non-human viable, is not a good idea.
agriculture industry, and try to figure companion if it’s to their mutual benefit, I could talk about soil replenishment
out an entirely new business model. but few would describe it in terms of and how it’s er, our soil that needs to be
(On that note — have you seen the film outright ownership. Even if you DO believe going back into the land, but I’ll save that
73 Cows yet? It is utterly beautiful, and in ownership, literally everyone agrees for another time. Lucky you.
there aren’t any distressing images — it’s that that doesn’t give you the right to do And finally, none of this rewilding
just a really happy story — go and find it whatever you want to it. and grazing flummery deals with the
on the internet). And maybe, in these frightening fundamental principle that taking the
And farmers with access to the times of climate change, with politicians life of a sentient creature for one’s
media and the press are pushing a scrambling for photo-ops in front of tree- momentary pleasure is wrong. Right,
new argument. They’ve given up on planting initiatives, we need to apply that guys? Guys? ■
trying to pretend that what they do is idea to land, as well as animals.
humane (by the way, I am not saying that I was in the highlands a few months For more from Jake follow @jakeyapp
farmers don’t care about their animals. ago — a stunning wilderness. Driving on Twitter.
But I DO think they have had to force down the west coast, the views of the
their brains into a highly convoluted mountains were spectacular. Until
cognitive dissonance). The new tack is I noticed what had been troubling me
all about food sustainability, and land faintly. There were no trees. Like, not one.
management. The new line, trying to Apart from plantations of pine — not a
sound super-reasonable, actually, guys, is single wild tree grew. I assumed at the
that, guys, eating a little bit of meat, guys, time it was the strong winds and harsh
might actually be better for the planet? climate that stopped them from growing,
The argument sounds annoyingly but I was wrong. You know what it is?
plausible at first. They say that grazing It’s grazing animals. Even
animals allow us to raise food (meat) on conservationists are calling for a massive,
land that would otherwise be unfarmable, massive cull of red deer. The estimated
and yield nothing. They argue that the 1.5 million of them in Scotland prevent

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