Just wondering... (should vegans grow their own food)

[veglover89]

I'm a lacto-ovo-vegetarian, but I became veggie out of ethical reasons, so i get where veganism is coming from, and want to become vegan. What I'm wondering is, how do vegans respond to the problem of grain farming. If you farm grain and soya, you are killing just as many animals (like voles, gophers, etc) due to combine-harvesters, as you would be if you just used the land to farm cows and kill them. So to be truly ethical, and environmentally friendly (soya farming damages land) should vegans grow their own food?

[Amy SF]

If you are talking about on a small scale, like in the backyard, it may not be practical for all vegans. Not all vegans have a backyard or access to a plot of land where they can grow food.

If you are talking about on a larger scale, like a commune or something, it may not be a bad idea. But again, accidentally killing small animals becomes a problem.

[kirkjobsluder]

I'm a lacto-ovo-vegetarian, but I became veggie out of ethical reasons, so i get where veganism is coming from, and want to become vegan. What I'm wondering is, how do vegans respond to the problem of grain farming. If you farm grain and soya, you are killing just as many animals (like voles, gophers, etc) due to combine-harvesters, as you would be if you just used the land to farm cows and kill them. So to be truly ethical, and environmentally friendly (soya farming damages land) should vegans grow their own food?

This has been addressed but:

Ideally, they should.

The majority of soya and grain harvested is used for animal feed.

[Sevenseas]

I would guess that something even more environmentally friendly would be freeganism. (AFAIK, there are quite many freegans involved in "AR circles").

[kentauros]

The biggest problem with growing your own grains is you are simply not going to be able to grow enough for your annual needs, be that whole grains for cooking and sprouting or turning into flour. But there are always co-ops, which are farmed smaller than the big guys, but grow enough to feed many more than themselves. I don't know how many co-ops have grain available as most seem to focus on fruits and vegetables. Might be something to do yourself, though; could be pretty profitable, too :)

[bethanie]

I grow some of my own foods during the summer, but live in an apartment where it is just not practical. I do believe that ethical people should support organic farming (farming without the use of chemicals), and local organic farming whenever possible.

B

[kirkjobsluder]

The biggest problem with growing your own grains is you are simply not going to be able to grow enough for your annual needs, be that whole grains for cooking and sprouting or turning into flour. But there are always co-ops, which are farmed smaller than the big guys, but grow enough to feed many more than themselves. I don't know how many co-ops have grain available as most seem to focus on fruits and vegetables. Might be something to do yourself, though; could be pretty profitable, too :)

It's possible to be largely self-sufficient, provided you have the acreage.

[Atlanta Newbie]

If you farm grain and soya, you are killing just as many animals (like voles, gophers, etc) due to combine-harvesters, as you would be if you just used the land to farm cows and kill them.

This is absolutely untrue.

As someone else mentioned, most of the soy and grain currently grown is used to feed cattle. So eating meat exponentially increases the number of dead animals.

It is virtually impossible to eat a 100% cruelty-free diet, but veganism comes much, much closer than omnivorism.

ETA: By the way, this is not just a vegan issue, it is a basic vegetarian one. If you are actually a l/o vegetarian, and not just playing devil's advocate here with anti-veg arguments, then what conclusions did you personally reach on this question when becoming a vegetarian?

[Atlanta Newbie]

http://courses.ats.rochester.edu/nobis/papers/leastharm.htm

[kentauros]

It's possible to be largely self-sufficient, provided you have the acreage.
Sure, that's certainly an "option" but then you have to have not only the discipline to do such a thing, but the equipment and the farming skills to do it right. How many people have any of that? Or the money/time to learn?

Farmers love what they do. How many that really only know gardening even love that enough to become completely self-sufficient? And growing grains are still the most acreage-intensive foods humans grow. (Most if not all grains come from grasses and all we're using are the seeds; is there anything the rest of the plant can be used for other than tillage?)

The other thing you will have to invest in is storage of that grain so you can use it throughout the year without it going rancid on you. Farmers are already set up for that. It might also be more energy-smart to just support the existing co-ops and "truck-farms" than to try and get into it yourself.

[DappledDiva]

I live in a relatively rural area, and our yard is about 35 acres. The bad part is, in ole' Wisconsin, we have this little thing called winter :p. Nothing comes out of the ground for 4 or 5 months. I think it is much healthier to buy organic produce than to try to store things for that long. Canning helps, freezing helps, and making jam is a good way to save fruit, but you loose a lot of nutritional value.

I wish anyone who tries it the best of luck though! Eating seasonally sounds amazing.

[bethann]

Leaving aside the grain issue, I do find growing as much of my own produce as I can to be rewarding (and tasting), and I also consider it environmentally friendly, since I use organic techniques and I'm cutting out transportation. Imo, anyone who has the opportunity should consider giving a little gardening a try, at least once.

[veglover89]

This is absolutely untrue.

As someone else mentioned, most of the soy and grain currently grown is used to feed cattle. So eating meat exponentially increases the number of dead animals.

It is virtually impossible to eat a 100% cruelty-free diet, but veganism comes much, much closer than omnivorism.

ETA: By the way, this is not just a vegan issue, it is a basic vegetarian one. If you are actually a l/o vegetarian, and not just playing devil's advocate here with anti-veg arguments, then what conclusions did you personally reach on this question when becoming a vegetarian?

No, I am not lying about being vegetarian. I didn't actually consider the 'least-harm' argument when I became vegetarian, it's something I came accross quite recently, and I read about it in this very anti-veg article, and wasn't really sure, if the stats it gave about animals being killed per hectare in crop production were true, how I should respond to it. Thanks to every1 who replied with articles and stuff to point out flaws in that argument. I'm not an omni going on this site to annoy every one with anti-veg*n arguments, but I just needed an answer for that question.

[Atlanta Newbie]

I'm not an omni going on this site to annoy every one with anti-veg*n arguments, but I just needed an answer for that question.


My apologies. It's just that people do pop up on this and other boards occasionally just long enough to bring up exactly these kinds of arguments.

Thanks for clarifying and have a great weekend. :)