One of the questions that we are most often asked is whether in becoming a vegetarian, a person will be positively aiding animal welfare and conservation. We discuss some of the issues:

Factory Farming
Many people do not wish to support factory farming on the grounds that it is cruel. This is a perfectly legitimate concern but is not necessary to purchase meat produced this way. Most beef and lamb production in the UK involves grazing systems where animals are reared outdoors in natural conditions. An increasing proportion of pork and poultry is also produced extensively to satisfy consumer demand. Meat products from these extensive systems are readily available from butchers.

Conservation
By purchasing meat produced from extensive production systems, consumers are helping to support the conservation of some of the UK's most important and diverse habitats. Moorland, chalk downland, coastal marshes, wood pasture and hay meadows are just some of the specialised habitats which have evolved through extensive grazing over thousands of years and the fate of some of our rarest wildlife habitats depends directly on livestock farming.

The welfare of individual animals
All consumers should be aware that the welfare of farm animals is of the highest importance to all UK farmers. This is not just because legislation governing animal welfare is the toughest in the world, but because farmers care deeply about their animals. Stock that are healthy and contented are the most productive and produce the highest economic return.

The welfare of breeds
Farm animals are kept for only as long as it is economic to do so and vegetarianism therefore removes the very reason they are kept in the first place. If the economics become poor, animal production will be replaced by alternative economic activity and the breed will be lost.

Evolution
In evolutionary terms today's farm animals have been very successful. In exchange for freedom from predators, a constant supply of food and a large population, they provide us with meat, wool, milk, leather and other products. This relationship is symbiotic (we both gain) and a cessation of livestock farming would not be in their evolutionary interest.

Displacement
Reduced demand for meat products does not necessarliy lead to higher animal welfare. With lower prices, extensive production is displaced by low cost imports from intensive systems where standards of animal welfare are much lower than our own.

Comment
UK agriculture is currently in a recession and major conservation organisations are now becoming increasingly concerned about the loss of livestock farming and the cessation of grazing from important habitats. In areas badly affected by the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in 2001 this has become a very serious issue. The image to the right illustrates extensive grassland that has been lost to dense scrub through lack of grazing.

Vegetarianism and conservation are often perceived as being closely related but in respect of many of grassland and heathland species, they are mutually exclusive.

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