Farmers Protest Plan For 100 Percent Plant-Based Council Menu

A motion for the UK’s North Devon District Council to exclusively serve plant-based options at internal meetings and events has been met with backlash from the local farming community.

The motion was debated earlier this week and ultimately voted down. This decision follows days of advocacy by Plant-Based Councils campaigners and local Green Party councilor Ricky Knight, who referred to the plan as a “vital ingredient” in the UK’s Net Zero pledges.

Speaking ahead of the debate last week, Knight said that the motion was explicitly not “anti-farming,” but “pro-sustainably produced” local food. Knight added that the motion responded to the Government’s own National Food Strategy and “a wealth of research.”

The proposal pushed for plant-based, locally sourced, and surplus food to be used wherever possible to reduce the council’s environmental footprint.

However, North Devon District Council serves a primarily rural constituency, including many people who are directly or indirectly involved in animal farming, which makes such a motion controversial. Local farmers protested outside the council building and made hundreds of phone calls to councilors leading up to the vote.

The North Devon District Council itself includes several councilors who are also farmers, but who were likely instructed to abstain from the vote itself. The motion was widely criticized by those involved in animal agriculture and pro-hunting lobbyists the Countryside Alliance.

Councilors should ‘acknowledge the scientific consensus’

Photo shows a group of Plant Based Councils campaigners with a large banner and flares protesting in London — Plant Based Councils Plant Based Councils is an Animal Rising campaign calling on councils to adopt entirely vegan internal catering

If the motion had been successful, it would have made North Devon the eighth council in the UK to switch to an entirely plant-based menu, joining Oxford, Cambridge, and South Devon’s “countryside city” of Exeter, which voted for meat-free catering in 2022.

The proposed North Devon motion acknowledged the significant contributions of meat and dairy to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and deforestation, both of which worsen the climate crisis.

It also noted that farmers should be “appropriately supported” in dealing with the climate and cost-of-living crises, the combination of which makes modern farming a particularly tough vocation.

Any suggested move away from meat and dairy in favor of plant-based foods is typically met by backlash from lobbying groups. Earlier this month, NatWest scaled back its advice to eat fewer animal products following criticism by the National Farmers Union (NFU).

“It’s disappointing to see councilors bow to the status quo instead of acknowledging the scientific consensus,” said Plant Based Councils campaigner Michaela Andrews. “We’re in a climate and ecological emergency, and this motion showed bold climate leadership.”