Today on Back British Farming Day, a new PETA video is showing support for farmers – crop farmers, that is. The 30-second video  celebrates the farmers bringing milk to our tables – oat milk, from oats grown in the UK – and calls for “farming that’s good for farmers, gentler on the planet … and gentle to animals”.

“Everyone needs farmers, but farmers don’t need to keep animals for meat, eggs, or dairy,” says PETA Director of Vegan Corporate Projects Dawn Carr. “This Back British Farming Day, PETA encourages all farmers to grow plants and leave behind the heartbreak and violence of raising animals for food.”

PETA notes that eliminating animals from the agricultural equation is every bit as good for farmers as it is for cows, pigs, chickens, and sheep. A 2022 study by the Farm Safety Foundation found that 92% of UK farmers under 40 cited poor mental health as the biggest problem they face. Adding to loneliness and other factors, much of the daily business of animal farming would compromise anyone’s mental health, from separating babies from their mothers to sending gentle animals off to slaughter.

“The need to reduce the production and consumption of animal-derived products has been widely accepted as a climate change mitigation measure. The missing piece up to now has been how the farmers themselves feel about this. Our recent survey of Scottish farmers and crofters has shown that, contrary to the reactionary rhetoric of the farming unions and press, farmers are open and willing to change and even to shift away from livestock farming entirely,” says Stockfree Farming Founding Director Rebecca Knowles.

“Plant-based farming is kinder to the environment, animals, and ecosystems, and farmers need our support. There is an abundance of plant foods we can grow in the UK, from oats and wheat to beans, fruit, vegetables, and mushrooms. And don’t forget seaweed, which is highly nutritious and grown in harmony with nature without using land, fresh water, or chemical inputs. Let’s move to a brighter future by backing British plant-based farming,” says SHORE Seaweed Managing Director Supply & Operations Peter Elbourne.

Farmers who switch to harvesting vegetables, grains, pulses, and fruits also help the planet: raising animals for food is a leading cause of environmental destruction, as it requires massive amounts of land, food, energy, and water while emitting huge quantities of greenhouse gases. Researchers at the University of Oxford recently determined that current agricultural systems make it impossible to meet climate commitments even if all other sources of green house gas emissions were eliminated.