Militant vegans are ripping the soul out of the countryside

You might find it hard to believe, but there was a time when farming was a respected and honourable job. We farmers were even exempt from the Armed Forces at one point: feeding the public was seen as the most crucial role there is.

No longer. Farming only enters the headlines these days when something dreadful happens. The latest example is a farm shop in Exeter which gave customers the chance to name and look after their Christmas turkey. Surely a wonderful opportunity for people to get closer to their food? Not so, said the militant vegans. The hatred – even death threats – the owner was subjected to will not be unfamiliar to many farmers.

Of course, only a minority would support such abuse. Most people do not think of farmers as evil. But the voice of farmers has been curiously absent from the debate about veganism, which has become a discussion among nutritional experts about the health benefits of this or that lifestyle choice. It’s as if the people who actually produce food have nothing sensible to add.

But what if we disappeared? It seems that there are people who genuinely believe they can eat and live their lives in a way that causes no damage to any sentient being.

Do they not understand that everything we eat has to be grown or killed? If it is grown without the use of animal manure, large amounts of artificial fertiliser and pesticide are needed to enable the crop to grow. The overuse of chemicals, of course, is bad for the environment and lethal to insects and other mammals.

Do they not realise that when small farmers (who extreme vegans seem to particularly hate) are forced out of business, hedges are ripped out of pastures and the habitat of many creatures is destroyed with it? What would the countryside look like without such stewardship? Perhaps farmers could be paid to look after the environment without doing any farming. But we do the job because we are proud to put food on the nation’s tables.

I can hear the raised voices of the rewilding proponents, who argue that intensive farming is responsible for the ruination of habitat. I am not trying to defend intensive methods.

However, when someone is farming on a small sustainable scale and is still targeted and abused, it makes me despair. I see one of the reasons that more than one farmer a week in the UK takes his own life.

There are so many things wrong with our treatment of the planet, and I find it difficult to imagine anyone living a life with zero damage to the environment. But I’ll tell you something about the small farmer. He or she is an easy target.

Not everybody in the countryside is a wealthy hunting, shooting, fishing type. In small communities, you find a mix – yes, some vegetarians (our neighbour, who keeps sheep, is one). There’s the old guy in the pub who knows so much about nature that he could talk for hours and educate some of the environmental and conservation experts. You get the young families who keep a few hens and the farmer who maintains the bridle paths and walkways.

I respect the life choices of vegan and vegetarian friends. As a farmer, I am prepared for nuanced and respectful debate, but not for this explosion of hate.

Noreen Wainwright farms with her husband in the Staffordshire Moorlands