Have you ever wondered what a plant-based world looks like? Have your eyes gleamed at the possibility, but a little voice called Doubt savagely trespassed your dream?

You’re not alone. After knowing the undeniable benefits of a plant-based food system, it’s difficult to ignore. However, the scale of this mission is intimidating and can often leave you feeling worse off. That’s why we are so excited to bring to you Geraldine Starke from Refarm’d who is bringing us one step closer to a plant-based world.

Geraldine dreamt of making an animal sanctuary but struggled with the fact that sanctuaries rely heavily on donations to operate and are tough to scale up i.e. helping more and more animals out of their life as commodities, becomes difficult. After considering all the factors required to build, operate and maintain sanctuaries she realised that dairy farms met all of these needs right where they were operating from! She began creating her dream into a reality by developing an end-to-end method for dairy farmers to transition to plant-based milks and convert their farms into sanctuaries. She created Refarm’d.

Why is her work important?

In the UK alone, dairy farming produces over 40 million litres of milk per day and is the largest in the agricultural sector: accounting for 16.85%. Small-medium scale dairy farms have been struggling economically and are increasingly falling into the hands of a few, larger farmers. The intensification of dairy has several impacts: environmental, social (animal welfare and human health), economical. Our current system means that dairy system changes in the European Union have been focused consistently on productivity: increasing efficiency and revenue. This comes at a large cost:

Environmental

• Between 2005 and 2015 there was an increase of 18 per cent (256 million tonnes) of CO₂ eq.
• As countries become wealthier, populations adopt more dairy into their diet, increasing the demand for dairy overall — there are at least 270 million dairy cows being farmed globally. Dairy farming contributes to greenhouse gases, soil degradation and wildlife loss and polluting of waterways.

Animal Welfare

• Science shows that cows are social beings, need space to exercise and experience trauma. Focuses on productivity ignore these facts and health is measured as the absence of disease and infirmity. Increasingly, dairy cows suffer from more mental and physical illness
• Smaller farmers are often left with no choice but to hand over their farm or cows to larger farms where their inevitable fates will be little social interaction, less space and lack of autonomy over their own bodies.

Livelihoods and Human Health

• Current trading systems undermine small scale production; falling milk prices and a constant need to increase the output of milk are pushing small and medium-sized farms out of business having a knock on effect in the community.
• Dairy farming can contribute to poor human health “through acute and chronic soil, air and water pollution as well as by increasing exposure to zoonotic diseases, pathogens and exacerbating the risk of anti-microbial resistance”.

It is clear, with the current and projected dairy farming methods, human health, animal welfare, environmental and social impacts are going to worsen. What Refarm’d aim to achieve is important.

How is it possible for a single woman to change the minds of not one, but several dairy farmers across Europe?

When we spoke to Geraldine in January, she briefly touched upon how she builds her relationships with farmers and helps them to transition. However, in order that the relationship is productive and long-standing, she needs to take into consideration the needs of the farmers.

She said,

“for farmers, they are proud of what they do — they feed the country — it’s their identity and that’s something Refarm’d take into account. Refarm’d will not be a globalised product. The farmer will get to have their own unique product. The farmers can decide their own prices. They take pride in the changes they are making- making it as carbon neutral as possible: renewable energy, planting trees, taking care of the animals in the long term etc.”

On 8th May at 18:00 BST Animal Rebellion is holding a Facebook Live Q&A to find out more. Animal Rebellion will explore her story and her work with current farmers, why several farmers across Europe are turning to plant-based milk, the social, environmental and economical benefits of her work and what people can do to enact change.

To support Geraldine you can “spread the message, spread the project”. Itgives her more opportunities which allow her to speak to more people and farmers. You can help her with anything you are passionate about: “people help me with the legal side, making a documentary or on the social media side”. She also needs people to fill out the market research form on her website so she can collect data on consumer demand. The more support and attention Refarm’d get, the more she can demonstrate that there is support and demand for this transition.

Website: https://en.refarmd.com/

Instagram: refarmd_official

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/refarmd/

The post Refarm’d: One Step Closer to a Plant-Based World first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

*Updated 15 November 2021*

Mainstream media would have us believe that supporters of a plant-based food system and animal farmers are enemies. These two groups of people are often pitted against one another on opposite sides of the climate crisis, although, contrary to this belief, The Vegan Society states: “It is the system that is at fault, not individual farmers, who are just trying to make a living like everyone else”. Introducing the Grow Green campaign in 2015, The Vegan Society supports and collaborates with farmers and advocates for policies that will help them transition to a more sustainable system. Similarly, Animal Rebellion promotes a ‘no blame, no shame’ culture and campaigns for system change to benefit the planet and everyone on it. This article aims to highlight the opportunities available to farmers, many of whom are beginning to accept the inevitability of a plant-based food system within the near future and are readying themselves for the transition.

Animal farming is no easy business. Without receiving government subsidies, which amounted to £70 million between 2016–2017, the UK farming industry would collapse. Jennifer Betit Yen is from Animal to Plant-Based Protein Exchange (A2Px), an agritech exchange that enables small to midsize animal farmers to transition from low return, animal-exploitive farming to more lucrative, sustainable and cruelty-free plant-based farming. She explains that farmers, especially those in the dairy industry, have been affected by declining incomes in the last five years. The industry is reliant upon government subsidies to stay afloat,as cow’s milk is priced lower than the cost of production. Most economists agree that, as consumers move away from cow’s milk and towards plant-based options, this reliance on subsidies is unsustainable. Forecasters predict that plant-based dairy alternatives will increase to a “market value of €19bn by 2022”; oat milk consumption has grown particularly quickly, making it the milk of choice for 25% of Brits, with sales increasing by more than 70% in 2018.

We are now accessing more evidence on this topic through mainstream media, shedding light on a market which has been quietly declining for years. Despite receiving large government subsidies, the animal farming industry has still been forced to stockpile produce in an attempt to hold its market value. Betit Yen explains: “In recent years, around 350,000 tonnes of excess powdered milk were stockpiled by the European Commission, in a move to prevent a backlash from the industry”. Public money is spent to bail out the industry when “few sectors are afforded the ability to continue to produce products in a declining market…This is neither a sustainable solution nor an ethical use of public funds.”

The harmful impact that animal agriculture has on our planet can no longer be swept under the rug, acknowledged even by large corporations. The general public and farmers alike are able to make better informed decisions about how every day actions affect their futures and that of the planet. For Adam Arnesson, a farmer from Jannelunds Farm in Sweden, the need for a more sustainable agricultural system is pushing a transformation in his business: “We are transitioning towards more plant-based food because of the importance of the environment and climate change”. Arnesson is shifting away from goat’s milk and instead beginning to produce oat milk with support from Swedish oat milk manufacturer, Oatly. Researchers studying the environmental effect of Arnesson’s transition to plant-based farming found that the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted had halved in the first year alone, whilst calories produced for human consumption had doubled.

For many small-scale animal farmers, their livelihoods are ingrained within their family history, a business passed down through generations; the commitment to preserving the family legacy therefore makes it a difficult decision to leave the industry. When our children are at the centre of this emergency, however, with their generation being the one who will suffer the most drastic effects of climate change, our decisions become clearer. Young leaders, such as Greta Thunberg, are driving the fight against the climate crisis; calling for governments to make dramatic systemic changes to save the planet — for us and for non-human animals. As knowledge of animal agriculture’s detrimental environmental impact spreads, accompanied by improved support systems, an increasing number of farmers are making the transition away from animal farming.

In addition to the severe environmental impact, the decline in consumption of animal products comes as a response to growing awareness of animal farming practices. As video footage and exposés continue to be released, an increasing number of people can witness what happens behind closed doors within animal agricultural industries, leading to a growing percentage of the population to boycott on ethical grounds. The ‘Dismantle Dairy’ campaign, for example, which was created by animal rights group Surge, has exposed the horrific treatment of dairy cows that is common practice within the UK.

Whilst the public is becoming more aware of the exploitation of non-human animals, very little is heard about the suffering of those who are forced into doing the killing. A startling report recently published by the BBC highlights how working conditions can lead to exhaustion, suicide and social isolation. One former abattoir worker opened up about her job and the effect it had on her mental health: “One skill that you master while working at an abattoir is disassociation. You learn to become numb to death and to suffering. Instead of thinking about cows as entire beings, you separate them into their saleable, edible body parts. It doesn’t just make the job easier — it’s necessary for survival.”

In the Uk, 75,000 people are employed in ‘meat-processing’, of whom approximately 69% are from European Union member states. The abattoir worker also remarked that “nobody talked about their feelings; there was an overwhelming sense that you weren’t allowed to show weakness. Many were migrant workers, predominantly from Eastern Europe, whose English wasn’t good enough for them to seek help if they were struggling”. Thanks to the increase of supportive organisations, workers may now have better access and assistance to finding alternative employment, particularly in the growing plant-based food industry.

As a result of tight margins and unpredictable costs, such as vet bills, farm-related incomes can be unreliable, but by transitioning to plant-based industries farmers and landowners open up new opportunities. The Vegan Society suggests different ways land can be utilised to meet the needs of the UK population, such as being “repurposed for renewable energy production, natural reforestation to capture carbon, commercial forestry or [for] biodiversity benefits”, with subsidies to support these proposals and funding for market research and development. This is supported by Alexandra Clark, a sustainable food consultant, as she states: “It is imperative that governments support these efforts and aid this transition by allocating funds to grant initiatives that will assist farmers in acquiring new skills and equipment to meet these changing needs”.

Jay Wilde, from the BAFTA-winning documentary 73 Cows, is one example of how The Vegan Society has already helped farmers successfully transition away from animal agriculture. The former cattle farmer took his herd to an animal sanctuary rather than an abattoir and now produces organic vegetables on his land with plans to open a vegan bed and breakfast in the future. Similarly, Sivalingam Vasanthakumar, a UK sheep farmer, decided one day to take his flock of lambs to live out the rest of their lives at animal sanctuary — he has since transitioned to growing vegetables and selling home-cooked Indian food. Organisations give farmers the option to make these decisions, as their support will help them move forward. Farm Transformers, founded in 2017, aims to build sustainable plant-based business solutions for farmers transitioning out of animal farming. By working together, they can better understand farmers’ needs in order to offer sound practical, logistical and financial advice, as well as new farming methods.

Meanwhile, Refarm’d is an organisation which aims to transform all dairy farms into animal sanctuaries and to adopt plant-based milk production. During the transition, the farmed animals are kept as sanctuary animals, whilst the farmers are assisted with retraining and various types of support in their new ventures. Founder Geraldine Starke highlights the importance of farmers earning a good wage and improving their livelihoods in the process. Starke’s long term plan is to expand into plant-based cheese, yoghurt and cream production.

There are many opportunities for plant-based businesses to succeed in place of animal farming. Take Hodmedod, for example, a British quinoa company founded in 2012. It has since grown to work with over 20 farmers and is now sourcing over 100 tonnes of pulses and quinoa annually for supply to retailers, caterers and manufacturers across the UK. Hodmedod farmers began with Fava Beans production, which have been grown in Britain for hundreds of years, and are committed to sustainable plant-based food production, stating that “Fava Beans are delicious, nutritious and good for the soil and bees”.

Now is the time for government action; the animals and the planet cannot continue to suffer at the hands of humans and an out-dated system. It is time for employees in animal agricultural industries to choose other options — they no longer need to endure unhealthy working conditions. Success stories of farmers and factory workers transitioning away from the industry are not rare, but are, in fact, increasingly common. It is clear what the government must do to aid these industries during the transition: redirect subsidies, support organisations which will in turn support the workers, and most importantly transition to a plant-based food system.

Read more: Incentivising Plant-Based Businesses: A Necessary Step Towards a Just and Sustainable Future

How a just and sustainable food system could change the world

The post What is the Future of Animal Farmers? first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

*Updated 15 November 2021*

As part of Animal Rebellion’s response to DEFRA’s National Food Strategy, Animal Rebellion has made ten core suggestions. The first is to incentivise a just and sustainable plant-based business model. In their (invited) consultation with DEFRA, Animal Rebellion points out that vegans and vegetarians are expected to make up a quarter of the population by 2025. They note that in response to the increasing demand for ethical plant-based alternatives to meat, fish, dairy, and other animal products, plant-based businesses have been on the rise. The popularity of Beyond Meat products (such as the Beyond Burger, made from pea protein, coconut oil, potato starch, and beetroot juice) and other plant-based alternatives to animal products is a clear indication that the UK public is ready for a change. While a social shift towards more compassionate consumer choices is clearly underway, major transformation in this direction can only take place if DEFRA actively incentivises plant-based businesses on a mass scale. Effective government incentives to activate a systemic transition towards the production and sale of plant-based consumer goods could include VAT tax cuts, start up cash, and favourable loans.

Heather Mills’ vision to develop a “Plant-Based Valley” — or a production hub for plant-based alternatives to animal flesh and other animal products — in the north of England is an excellent example of the type of business the UK government should be investing in if it is truly committed to sustainability and combatting climate change. Since the late 1990s, Mills has been developing tasty alternatives to popular meat products such as doner kebabs. From a small operation in a tiny production facility in Corby, Northamptonshire, Mills went on to open VBites cafe in Hove, West Sussex, and is now aiming to open three large plant-food factories around Newcastle with a staff of 400. What is particularly attractive about Mills’ approach is that she aims to appeal directly meat-eaters, in addition to vegans. By demonstrating to the former that it is possible to enjoy the taste of a doner kebab without harming and killing animals to get the same result, Mills’ products can help facilitate the transition from exploitative animal-based agricultural production to compassionate plant-based agricultural production.

Government incentives will also enable businesses like Mills’ to provide high quality, ethically sourced plant-based products at an affordable price. One of the main barriers to the mainstreaming of plant-based products is their comparably high cost. Many people, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged, find the cost, of say organic oat milk versus cow milk — the production of which involves terrible physical and psychological suffering for mother cows and their calves — prohibitively high and therefore opt for the cheaper product, even if their conscience objects. People should not have to choose between their conscience and their pocketbook. Wholesome healthy food, which has been produced without violence to humans, animals, or the earth, should be and can be made readily available to the entire UK population. The only barrier is remaining tied to an outdated and ruinous food production system. Once that obsolete model is abandoned and replaced with a clean, green, animal-earth-human friendly model, plant-based foods will fill marketplaces and tummies across the nation, and we will be healthier, in spirit and body, for it.

Animal Rebellion’s second, and related, demand is to shift subsidies away from animal agriculture and towards protein crop cultivation. Between 2016–17, subsidies of £70 million were paid to resource intensive, pollution-heavy factory farms. If subsidies were redirected to plant-based agriculture, the terrible environmental impact of factory farming, not to mention the unspeakable injustice against animals that it entails, would be dramatically reduced and ultimately eliminated.

With increasing public awareness about the climate catastrophe and the major role animal agriculture is playing in it, and with growing public concern about the horrendous treatment of animals in the agricultural industry, the time is ripe for system change. We cannot go on needlessly killing sentient animals on a massive, unprecedented scale to satisfy our palates and fill our pockets. To do so would be, frankly, criminal on a world-historical scale. The UK government owes it to the future generations — those who stand to suffer most from the mistakes of the past — to commit in principle and practice to a more just, more ethical, and more sustainable future. One essential means of achieving this goal is to redirect funding from cruel and environmentally destructive animal-product enterprises to businesses for which the wellbeing of the earth, animals, and human beings are integral, not counter, to their success.

Join Animal Rebellion

The post Incentivising Plant-Based Businesses: A Necessary Step Towards a Just and Sustainable Future first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

An open letter from Animal Rebellion to the ‘silent giant’ that holds the fate of many of the world’s forests, billions of worlds’ farmed animals and much of the global food-system in its grip.

Over 140 years Cargill, whilst remaining little-known, has grown to be one of the largest traders of commodities for the animal-agricultural industry. Your company is one of a handful that control up to 90% of the worlds grain markets. Your company is also the largest worldwide producer of the grain-based feed for farmed animals and the third-largest “meat processing” company in the world.Today, your agri-business is the largest food-conglomerate in the world.

Astonishingly, all this makes your organisation directly accountable for: the life and death experiences of billions of commoditized animals every year; for a critical amount of deforestation, air and water pollution; for the wellbeing of the animals fed your grains and ‘processed’ by your plants; for the welfare of millions of humans that work within its supply chains; and for the health of billions more humans that consume the animal products that Cargill directly and indirectly profits from.

Cargill is also the largest family-owned business in the world: your family members hold together a 90% stake. Until now, you have overseen a strategy of keeping a deliberately low-profile, but today Animal Rebellion is asking you to call time on that secrecy!

During the International Rebellion, rebels called for Cargill to #TellTheTruth about the real costs of their business. We are calling for you, the Cargill family, to step up to your responsibilities to farmed animals, to humans and to the planet — the home of all of us.

Cargill family: you have perhaps more power than any company past or present to either destroy the planet or, instead to lead the transition to the only form of a just, sustainable food-system there is: a plant-based one.

The world needs you, Cargill, to #ActNow! Help end the harmful and destructive animal farming industries that are fuelling climate breakdown and ecological collapse. Will you join us today on the right side of history?

Unfortunately, much of the Cargill story known to a public concerned about ecological destruction and animal justice is one of deforestation, air and water pollution, dangerous food contamination, human rights abuses and tax evasion. Just some of the most striking examples include:

Deforestation

Animal farming — the ‘meat industry’ — relies on about 75% of the world’s soy — of which you, Cargill, are the largest producer and which is fed to the animals slaughtered in your plants. Globally more than 1,000,000 square kilometres — three times the size of Germany — is dedicated just to growing soy.On top of this, you are one of the world’s largest importers and exporters of palm oil, and direct owners of five palm oil plantations .

This means you must own up to your company’s responsibility for the destruction of tropical and lowland rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands that have characterised this trade and have contributed significantly to climate change and the disruption of hydrological cycles, as well as the destruction of many wildlife habitats. It also means you have to bear responsibility for emitting, together with the other two largest meat-producing businesses — more greenhouse gases that the whole of France.

In 2014 Cargill signed a landmark deal with 150 other countries, businesses and civil society organisations, pledging to eliminate deforestation by 2020. However, years on from that and your company has continued to expand its operation into new, pristine forest outside the Brazilian Amazon, whilst resisting the extension of the deforestation-free production agreements into these areas.

Polluting air and water

In June 2001 a Cargill subsidiary was fined for misleading officials about emissions of pollutants such as carbon monoxide, found to be at 15 to 50 times the legal level and just three months later Cargill was fined $1.5 million for illegally dumping pig manure near its facility in Missouri, killing 50,000 fish. In the years that followed, there were many more incidents of environmental pollution, including toxic brine released into water ways, phosphorous-laden chicken waste spread on fields, more pig manure releases and tens of millions more fish killed.

And all of that is just in the US…before describing the rivers and land of indigenous peoples claimed to be seriously polluted by pesticides sprayed on fields from overhead. Some local populations of soy plantations report an increase in birth defects, cancers and respiratory illnesses, and the loss of domesticated animals from herbicide exposure.

Food contamination

Cargill has been responsible for more than ten widespread outbreaks of E. coli, Listeria and antibiotic resistant Salmonella since 2000, some of which have been deadly and requiring the recall of hundreds of tonnes of contaminated animal products.

Human rights violations

Troubling past allegations of enslaved children involved in the production of some of the raw materials that Cargill purchases, including cotton from Uzbekistan and cacao from the Ivory Coast, have been named in an ongoing court case, as well as on its own palm oil plantations in Papua New Guinea.

Also at the PNG plantations, formally independent farmers are being converted into de facto bonded laborers, and indigenous communities have consistently reported the destruction of their natural habitats and intimidation through violence in zones claimed to be producing for Cargill.

Tax evasion

In 2018 the UK Revenue and Customs won a £79 million tax avoidance case against Cargill (together with Goldman Sachs), related to the acquisition of a gas-fired power plant from the collapsed firm Enron in 2001. Seven years earlier, Cargill, along with several other grain mega-traders, was accused of substantial tax evasion by Argentina.

All of these reasons are why we speak directly to you, Cargill family. Your operations acutely impact the wellbeing and survival of beings from all walks of life, from all species, across the globe. The world needs you NOW to lead your industry in shutting down the mechanics of animal exploitation and environmental destruction, and in putting an end to practices that harm tens of billions of sentient beings.

You have the choice, and the world’s eyes are upon you now.

We warmly welcome your investment in plant-based protein producers (such as the pea-protein supplier to Beyond Meat)and cultivated meat technologies (Memphis Meats and Aleph Farms), and you have recognised the importance of these alternatives in feeding the world. However, you continue to cling to your identity as a ‘traditional animal protein’ company. Many of your competitors are embracing the switch to being “protein” companies, such as Tyson Foods, whilst others have taken the next step to creating their own plant-based protein products, such as Maple Leaf Foods and Smithfield Food. By making similar changes in your operations, Cargill could have an enormous impact on food sustainability, environmental health and social and climate justice.

We also welcome your investment in charitable initiatives to support food security — like your recently-launched initiative with Heifer International “Hatching Hope”. However, this partnership aims to improve the nutrition of 100 million people by 2030 based on greater production, promotion and consumption of poultry. We urge you to use these opportunities to leave behind the destructive and harmful practices of animal farming, and help vulnerable communities to feed themselves with foods that are more , more sustainable and more ethical: plant-based foods. The enormous amount of food we directly feed to livestock should be fed directly to those who need it.

Lastly, we applaud you also for listening to your customers, and listening to the concerns of the individuals that consume the animals that you process. Just last year you radically altered your slaughter process for chickens at your London plant, reducing the distress experienced by these sentient beings in response to welfare concerns. Cargill, we believe these welfare concerns are only going to increase as the public becomes rapidly more informed about the suffering of farmed animals and as they are faced with the stark facts about the central role of animal agriculture in the climate emergency. Today, we say that listening to your customers and consumers can only mean spearheading a global shift towards a plant-based food system.

Cargill: you have enormous influence over today’s food and agricultural systems and over the companies that work within it? Crucially, you have a massive impact on wellbeing, and now the survival, of tens of billions of living beings whose habitats, livelihoods and very lives are now facing extreme risk.

We now know that a plant-based food system is the only system that can minimise the risk of climate breakdown, halt mass extinction and avert social collapse.

With your investments and your infrastructure, we can we can start the urgent project to build a just and sustainable plant-based food system for the planet.

The post Cargill Family, A Historic Choice is upon You: Planetary Destruction or Climate, Animal and Human Justice? first appeared on Animal Rebellion.