Why it's important for the countryside to fight back against local council bans on meat and dairy

It's important to tackle anti-livestock farming policies, including draconian bans on meat and dairy, implemented by local authorities. Unless we stand up and challenge the animal rights agenda at every level, we will wake up and find that what was once a niche cause has become a new orthodoxy.

When one thinks of a local councillor, it is easy to conjure up the image of a local busybody, readily attending endless meetings about potholes, litter, and public lavatories.

It could be easy to give their activity little notice, particularly when the everyday drama of Westminster dominates the news.

Whilst it is true that many seek local office for the sole good of their community, it would be naive to assume their interests are limited exclusively to allotment allocation.

Rather, council chambers can be hotbeds for radicals, providing a stage for eccentrics to champion their own causes, irrespective of how niche.

In the 1980s, left-wing urban councils climbed over one another to declare themselves 'nuclear free zones', regardless of the fact that nothing resembling a nuclear reactor had ever been near their inner-city council wards.

Today there is a modern version of this absurdity, slowly taking hold of councils in the most unlikely of places. The movement for state-backed veganism.

In Oxfordshire, home to one of Britain's favourite farmers, Jeremy Clarkson, the county council have voted to go fullyplant based at all meetings and civic events to 'tackle climate change'.

No more ham and cheese sandwiches for hungry councillors, but instead, lavish platters of exotic fruit and vegetables. All taxpayer funded of course.

Despite protests from local farmers, Oxfordshire's tiny Green Party contingent pushed through the policy to set an example to its humble electorate.

Owing no doubt to the new political makeup of the council, both Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors shamelessly waved through their Green coalition partners' proposals, without any hesitancy and little evidence of consultation with agricultural experts.

Shortly after appeared the council's new publicly funded website: 'Climate Action Oxford'. Billing itself as a 'one-stop-shop for tackling climate change', the site lists a number of ways local subjects can also play their part in reducing emissions.

Number one on the list? Adopting a plant-based diet. Clearly ignorant of the reality that red meat produced in Britain is among the most sustainable in the world, it conveniently cites global figures on agricultural emissions to prop up its commandment.

Over in leafy Haywards Heath in Sussex, the local council has signed the town and its 32,000 locals up to the 'Plant Based Treaty'; the first of any such authority in Europe to do so.

Among a plethora of demands, the treaty wants its signatories to apply 'meat taxes' on shoppers and halt the expansion of farmland.

Animal rights group PETA were quick to slap their seal of approval on Hythe Town Council in Kent, after one of its supporters - another Green Party councillor - successfully spearheaded its policy to drop meat and dairy items from their menu.

Recognising the link between the more militant animal-rights movement and anti-meat and dairy crusaders is important here.

Lord Deben, chair of the UK's Climate Change Committee, has previously said vegan activists were wrong to argue that eating meat was not environmentally friendly and were "muddying" the debate by calling for plant-based diets. "They do it because they have other views about animals, but they have to accept that it is not about climate change", he says.

It is clear that animal rights groups like PETA are utilising easier access to local government to implement the ultimate aim of their agenda, under the guise of environmentalism.

In Oxfordshire, the Green councillor behind the all-plant based policy identifies as a supporter of the Hunt Saboteurs Association, who previously led calls to ban trail-hunting on council-owned land. A coincidence? Unlikely.

It would be wrong however to dismiss these examples simply as puerile, political posturing.

These examples also matter not because there is any problem with people adopting plant-based diets, but because the somewhat lazy assumption that moving from meat to a non-meat diet always provides a benefit for the environment.

When Oxfordshire proudly showcased their first all-plant based lunch, a simple FOI request showed that not only did it cost the taxpayer more, but crucially, the council had no idea where the produce on offer - including watermelon and mango - had been grown.

How does an avocado flown in from South America retain eco-superiority over a humble piece of grass-fed beef from a farm just outside Oxford?

This country's climate is ideal for growing grass for animals to eat. Approximately two thirds (65%) of UK farmland is better suited to growing grass than other crops. If we did not graze livestock, we could not use it to produce food.

What then becomes of this land if livestock farming is eradicated? This vital question is one that proponents of this movement struggle to answer convincingly.

The Countryside Alliance has followed developments in Oxfordshire closely.

Persistent pressure and media attention has ensured opposition councillors are working away at building consensus against the current status quo.

Not a draconian 'meat = bad, plant-based = good' policy, but 'locally sourced and sustainably produced = good, food miles and heavily processed = bad'.

Livestock farmers produce sustainable, seasonal produce while constantly maintaining and enhancing the countryside we love. Without a buoyant market for their produce, fuelled by an orchestrated campaign by local authorities and animal rights groups with no experience of agriculture, the countryside slowly risks being turned into an unmanaged wasteland.

Keeping an ever-watchful eye on the goings-on of your local authority may seem at times like pulling teeth, but it is vital if we are to counter misinformation and the ongoing threat to the custodians of our countryside. Unless we stand up and challenge the animal rights agenda at every level now, we will wake up and find that what was once a niche cause has become a new orthodoxy.

This article was first published in November edition of The Field.

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