Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.
Diana Lupica,
PlantBasedNews.org
November
2018
"If you care about animals, the answer isn’t humane meat,' said the former pig farmer."
The former meat producer now grows vegetables (Photo: Twitter)
An ex-pig farmer from Sweden has spoken out about his decision to go
vegan, and how he closed down his meat shop to become a vegetable farmer
instead.
In a piece written for a major Swedish daily newspaper titled How I Went
From Pig Farmer To Vegetable Farmer, Gustaf Söderfeldt bills veganism as the
future of farming.
"It is kinder, healthier, more efficient, less wasteful, and more
climate-friendly," he writes.
"[Farmers] are developing knowledge and methods to enable a revolutionary
shift – to vegan farming!"
Söderfeldt has urged other farmers and the general public to switch to vegan
living through his article, which was published today, in celebration of
World Vegan Day.
'Humane'
The farmer, who used to manage a small-scale 'humane' meat business, has
dispelled the myth that animals can be killed humanely.
"Our customers loved to hear that the pigs had had 'a good life'.
"But of course, they didn’t want to hear about the ugly side of raising the
animals.
"If I’d told them that a mother sow didn’t want to be separated from her
babies or that the pigs screamed with anguish as they were loaded onto the
lorry bound for the abattoir, I wouldn’t have kept a single customer.
"No one wants to know about the nasty parts of the meat industry. Everyone
just wanted to hear about how 'good' and 'humane' our meat was."
The ex pig farmer realized there's no such thing as 'humane meat'
(Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur / We
Animals)
Hiding the truth
The farmer soon realized that the only way he could continue his profession
was if he hid the truth.
Söderfeldt then goes on to say: "There’s nothing fun about raising animals
to kill them – even the most ardent meat farmer would agree. You do it
because you think you have to, but inside, you feel awful. You learn to
switch off your emotions.
"Most of our customers bought meat from us to silence their own consciences.
"People don’t want to admit to themselves that they’re supporting an
industry that treats animals horribly.
"If you care about animals, the answer isn’t 'humane meat'.
"The right thing to do is to stop breeding animals for food."
Söderfeldt now grows and sells vegetables (Photo: Facebook)
Vegan
Söderfeldt became vegan after himself and his wife had started watching
videos about it on YouTube which, he said, changed his life.
"It turned out that vegans wanted the same thing that I did: for animals to
have a good life," he wrote.
"This was what mattered to me as a pig farmer. But vegans had gone one step
further than I had in their thinking: if you really care about animals, you
shouldn’t breed them at all!"
Söderfeldt recalled that his body started functioning better - 'but above
all, [he] felt good emotionally'.
Vegan farming
The now-vegetable farmer discussed how 'satisfying' and 'gratifying' growing
veg is.
"There’s every reason to believe that veganism is the future of farming. It
is kinder, healthier, more efficient, less wasteful, and more
climate-friendly.
"There’s now a growing community of vegan farmers around the world who are
spreading the message that there’s a better and smarter way to farm, and
they’re developing knowledge and methods to enable a revolutionary shift –
to vegan farming," he added.
"It’s a journey that has just begun, and we need many more passionate people
to join us."
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